Maryland judge strikes down anti-spam law News
Maryland judge strikes down anti-spam law

[JURIST] A Maryland judge has struck down as unconstitutional Maryland's 2002 Commercial Electronic Mail Act [PDF], the first state law to punish senders of junk e-mail, commonly known as spam. Judge Durke G. Thompson of the Montgomery County Circuit Court dismissed a case brought against a New York e-mail distribution company by Eric Menhart, a George Washington University Law School student. Thompson ruled on December 9 that the law unconstitutionally sought to limit the business actions of individuals outside of state borders, and thus exceeded the authority of the state. The current law on internet spam is contradictory and confused, but Menhart says he to appeal. The Baltimore Sun has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.