Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Massachusetts

Re: Homosexual Marriage

To REVOKE a statute, there must be an existing statute to revoke.

There is no existing statute here, so REVOCATION will be impossible.

To GRANDFATHER something is to allow something

that has existed over a defined period of time

to continue existing as it has done in the past.

Take, for example, a house that has existed on 7000 square feet of land in a town.

The towh later decides to put in 2-acre zoning

where the "old" house is.

The old house is GRANDFATHERED.

To make that 2-acre zoning law affect the

old house would be making an EX POST FACTO law. That would be UNconstitutional.

Laws sometimes have retroactive effect but only when it concerns something procedural, not when it concerns something substantive.

To say that the old house can no longer sit on 7000 square feet would be affecting retroactively the SUBSTANTIVE

rights of the owner. And that's a BIG NO NO.

SO, a gay marriage as of May 17th would have to be GRANDFATHERED were the people to

vote for no gay marriages in 2006.

Re: Homosexual Marriage

This is a constitutional question. You should contact the Gay and Lesbian Bar Association of one of the atorneys who argued the case.