20070618 A "Lady Godiva" has her day in New York’s courts

A "Lady Godiva" has her day in New York’s courts

Image credit: Lady Godiva by John Collier, ca 1897

De minimis non curat lex?

June 18^th, 2007

I must note that the Pillage Idiot is on quite a roll these days. He must be younger than me or perhaps I wanna know what coffee he drinks to maintain the energy; but his post, “De minimis non curat lex?” wins the Dayhoff Dr. Pepper award.

Or perhaps his post warrants a new category, the “Reductio ad absurdum award”

Of course it all reminded me of the 1966 song by “Peter and Gordon, “Lady Godiva:”

Of “Lady Godiva,” Wikipedia notes:

Godiva (or Godgifu) (c. 990?–September 10, 1067) was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants. The name "peeping Tom" for a voyeur comes from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom watched her ride and was stricken blind.

Anyway, the Pillage Idiot writes:

The New York tabloids are having a field day with a settlement between an East Village artist and the City over her arrest for going out topless on the street.

New York Post: "'Bust'ed Gal Payoff."

New York Daily News: "Bra-vo! $29G in topless suit"

The artist, Jill Coccaro, "who now goes by the name Phoenix Feeley" (no immature jokes, please), relied on a 1992 decision of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, which held that prohibiting women, but not men, from going topless violated equal protection.

Read the rest here – after you safely secure all liquids…: De minimis non curat lex?

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