A state of disuse or inactivity.
[French désuétude, from Latin dēsuētūdō, from dēsuētus, past participle of dēsuēscere, to put out of use : dē-, de- + suēscere, to become accustomed.]
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n.
Thesaurus:
desuetude
noun
- The quality or state of being obsolete: disuse, obsoleteness, obsoletism. See new/old, used/unused.
Law Dictionary:
Desuetude
a term applied to obsolete laws and practices that have grown out of use. A long desuetude of any law amounts to its repeal. 266 F. Supp. 318, 325. Usually, discontinued practices, customs or laws will be rendered obsolete when their objects have vanished or their reasons have ceased to be applicable. Thus, an ordinance regulating the speed of horse-drawn carriages for the purpose of controlling the generation of dust in the streets, particularly in a city whose streets are now paved, will be regarded as having been impliedly repealed under the principle of desuetude. See generally 49 Iowa L. Rev. 389.
Word Tutor:
desuetude
IN BRIEF: Stopping the use of; disuse.
This old house had wasted -- more from desuetude than it would have wasted from use, twenty years for one.
— Charles Dickens.
Wikipedia:
desuetude
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into de facto. (Discuss) |
In law, desuetude (from the French word désuet, outdated) is a doctrine that causes statutes, similar legislation or legal principles to lapse and become unenforceable by a long habit of non-enforcement or lapse of time. It is what happens to laws that are not repealed when they become obsolete. It is the Legal doctrine that long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid, at least in the sense that courts will no longer tolerate punishing its transgressors.
British law
The doctrine of desuetude is not favoured in the common law tradition. In 1818, the English court of King's Bench held in the case of Ashford v. Thornton that trial by combat remained available at a defendant's option in a case where it was available under the common law. The concept of desuetude has more currency in the civil law tradition, which is more regulated by legislative codes, and less bound by precedent.
The doctrine has been applied in regard to acts of the pre-1707 Scottish Parliament.
United States law
Desuetude does not apply to U.S. state and federal constitutions. In Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York, 397 U.S. 664, 678 (1970), the United States Supreme Court asserted that: "It is obviously correct that no one acquires a vested or protected right in violation of the Constitution by long use, even when that span of time covers our entire national existence and indeed predates it."
It may, however, have validity as a doctrine in defense of penal prosecution. The seminal case under U.S. state law is a West Virginia opinion regarding desuetude, Committee on Legal Ethics v. Printz, 187 W.Va. 182, 416 S.E.2d 720 (1992). In that case, the West Virginia state supreme court held that penal statutes may become void under the doctrine of desuetude if:
- (1) The statute proscribes only acts that are malum prohibitum and not malum in se;
- (2) There has been open, notorious and pervasive violation of the statute for a long period; and
- (3) There has been a conspicuous policy of nonenforcement of the statute.
This holding was reaffirmed in 2003 in West Virginia v. Blake, ___ S.E.2d ____ (W. Va. 2003)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
Translations for:
Desuetude
Dansk (Danish)
n. - ubenyttelse
idioms:
- fall into desuetude gå i glemmebogen, gå ud af brug
Français (French)
n. - désuétude
idioms:
- fall into desuetude tomber en désuétude
Deutsch (German)
n. - Ungebräuchlichkeit, Vergessenheit
idioms:
- fall into desuetude außer Gebrauch kommen, in Vergessenheit geraten
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αχρησία, αχρηστία
idioms:
- fall into desuetude πέφτω σε αχρησ(τ)ία
- into desuetude in disuso
Português (Portuguese)
n. - desuso (m)
idioms:
- fall into desuetude cair em desuso
Русский (Russian)
непригодность
idioms:
- fall into desuetude (выйти) из употребления
idioms:
- fall into desuetude caer en desuso
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - obruklighet
中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
废止, 不用
idioms:
- fall into desuetude 废弃
中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 廢止, 不用
idioms:
- fall into desuetude 廢棄
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) البطلان, كون الشئ مبطلا أو مهجور
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - אי-שימוש
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Copyrights:
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Law Dictionary. Law Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Desuetude". Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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- obsoleteness
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