Seaweed, dueling laws could get the ax in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island's gardeners, boxers and shameless swearers beware: you could be breaking the law and not even know it.

A law restricting the amount of seaweed Barrington residents can take from the public beach to use as fertilizer has been on the books for nearly 200 years. Since at least 1798 it's been illegal to arrange to meet another person and engage in a fight - a deed punishable by as many as 10 years in jail.

And drivers who pass another vehicle on the left are still supposed to give a "timely, audible signal" - an easing of the original 1916 law specifying that a bell or horn should be used.

A Rhode Island lawmaker wants to repeal these outdated laws and many others - a process that would happen every year if his proposal is passed.

Some of the laws aren't just archaic, they're unconstitutional and problematic, said House Majority Whip John Edwards.

Officials in the town of Smithfield decided in 2013 to enforce a law banning the distribution of anonymous negative campaign literature, despite a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a similar law in Ohio and upheld the right to anonymous free speech.

The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state and the town. In October, a federal judge declared that the 91-year-old state law was unconstitutional.

The state and the town paid about $4,500 for the ACLU's legal fees, according to ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown.

"Repealing these laws is not just an academic exercise," said Brown, who is urging lawmakers to pass Edwards' bill.