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throwawaysugar | 2 years ago

Don't ignore the "or a fine". A situation like you described doesn't commonly result in any jail time (or in any fine, tbh)

Besides, I'd wager even if the whole state hated you, you would clearly be protected in that specific scenario by article 5 of the constitution, which trumps the penal code or other ordinary laws:

IX - are free the expression of intellectual, artistic, scientific and communication, regardless of censorship or license;

But again, IANAL (although married to one)

discuss

order

jevoten|2 years ago

So either article 5 of the constitution trumps article 287 so completely that 287 is legally dead and it would make no difference if it was erased entirely, or you better hope you get a judge sympathetic to your cause. I.e. stay in the good graces of your superiors.

throwawaysugar|2 years ago

Article 287 is in the Penal Code, not in the Constitution. The constitution is the top dog in the legal hierarchy. The Penal Code is pretty high up there and trumps thinks like local laws.

Some laws are written in such a way that, eventually, when put to the test and being presented to the Supreme Court, which judges matters of constitutionality, they may indeed be declared void for being unconstitutional. That has never happened for article 287 of the penal code, although it may one day. You'd need an actual case to make that claim, though.

There are no "superiors", except for the constitution.

The law as written doesn't take into account whether the Supreme Court judges are corrupt or politically appointed/influenced. The law spells out what "ought to be", not what "is".

kelnos|2 years ago

Having to pay a fine instead doesn't make it better.