5 things we made illegal in America
Unions, poverty and children, oh my
In the United States, when we want to discourage certain behaviors, we can either make it explicitly illegal, or make it so unpleasant and inconvenient that it may as well be illegal. This article is about the second kind of quasi-legal mandate.
Interestingly, the law recognizes that quasi-legal behavior can be an issue. For example, in landlord-tenant law, there is a concept called “constructive eviction.” The idea is that if the landlord can’t get rid of tenants legally, the landlord can make the tenants’ life so unpleasant that the tenants will just move out on their own. Shutting off utilities or refusing to do needed repairs are two examples of ways landlords can try to accomplish this goal. But unless the court orders the tenants evicted, the landlord is not allowed to take any of these steps. Instead, if landlords take it upon themselves to rid themselves of problematic tenants, the court can award damages to the tenants for “constructive eviction.” Essentially, the landlords have taken the law into their own hands.
Similarly, employment law has a concept called “disparate impact.” If a law is made that is non-discriminatory on its face, but by its nature has a greater impact upon Black people, or women, or another protected group, then that law is deemed…
