What we needed an inquiry into was why the law had not been enforced.
In 2008 Jamaica voted to retain the death penalty, though it had not been enforced for 20 years.
Standing by a motorbike with his wife, mother and daughter, Suyadi, a local farmer, said he was disappointed that the evacuation zone had not been enforced.
And at a recent State Assembly hearing on illegal hotels, officials said the law had not been enforced against individuals who occasionally rent out their apartments while on vacation.
The state required the city to begin the program this month — based on a 1997 state law that had not been enforced.
In the course of enforcing laws that had not been enforced for 25 years, we were being more proactive, we were engaging more people, and often they didn't like it.
The Police Department and Department of Consumer Affairs have dusted off all the rule books, ticketing sidewalk vendors for all types of violations that had not been enforced in decades and, in some cases, are still not enforced elsewhere.
The last measure of this kind (1733) had not been enforced, but this time the government set up a system of customs houses, staffed by British officers, and even established a vice-admiralty court.
Mr. Heilig said it was a crime under the state law for any non-Indian to possess untaxed cigarettes purchased at Indian reservations or through online vendors, although the law had not been enforced for years.
Since 1990, the law had not been enforced.
