A friend just forwarded me a law school assignment that I thought you smart appellate types might have some fun with.

Draft a proposed statute for the Penal Code. The subject matter can be anything, but the draft must be taken seriously. It kind of makes you anticipate challenges to statutes, but in a fun way. I'm interested to see what you guys can come up with. Here's one I came up with:

Section 43.28 Harmful Selection of Music

(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly operates a music
performance device in such a manner that causes harmful music to be projected in a public place, or if not in a public place, the person is reckless about whether another is present who will be offended or alarmed.

(b) "Music performance device" means:
1) any device capable of producing and projecting musical notes whether the sound is created by battery, electricity, digital manipulation, or any combination of the three; or
2) any device capable of reproducing and projecting or broadcasting musical notes.

(c) "Harmful music" means:
1) any music or song that appeals to a purient interest in:
(A) the music or fashion of the 1980's;
(B) music likely to be hummed for thirty minutes after hearing the music; or
(C) any song by Right Said Fred, the Spice Girls, or Sir Mix-A-Lot;
2) is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to musical structure, lyrical craftsmanship, and near copyright infringement; and
3) is utterly without redeeming social value.

(d) an offense committed under this section is a Class B misdemeanor unless, the person commits the offense by operating another person's music performance device while either person is operating a motor vehicle in which case the offense is a First Degree Felony.

[This message was edited by David Newell on 11-10-05 at .]

Please add all forms of music otherwise refered to as "polka" (and anything that substantially relies on the accordian as a component of producing said music), as well all banjo performances lasting longer than three minutes that are not performed by Roy Clark as part of a legitimate Hee Haw show. (And I guess we should also grandfather "Grandpa Jones" into the exceptions category, since he played tolerable music.)

So could the larynx be considered a device capable of producing musical notes? That would probably greatly relieve my coworkers who hear me singing from my office!