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You don't have to look hard for examples of laws that are so rarely enforced and widely flouted that they have largely been forgotten. Dent suggests legislation which forbids the sale of alcohol to a person who is already drunk – a law that, if properly enforced, would threaten to tear apart the fabric of British society and almost certainly trigger the collapse of the economy.All this said, sometimes the mere existence of a law is enough to change behaviour. Jenny Wiltshire gives the smoking ban as an example of a law which was a low priority for the police and local authorities, but was successful because it was widely supported by the public. "If they are obeyed, laws which are not actually enforced are certainly a cost effective way of changing people's behaviour," she says.READ: The Law Needs to Catch Up, But Look: Weed Is Effectively Legal in the UK
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