— Also termed selective prosecution. Cf. vindictive prosecution under PROSECUTION. [Cases: Constitutional Law 223, 250.1(3); Criminal Law 37.10. C.J.S. Constitutional Law §§ 723, 743–744; Criminal Law § 64.]
“The chief of police of a New England town once declared to the press that he believed in a strict curfew law, ‘selectively enforced.’ ‘Selective enforcement’ in this case means that the policeman decides for himself who ought to be sent home from the street; legislative candour would suggest that if this is the intention it ought to be expressed in the law itself, instead of being concealed behind words that are ‘strict’ and categorical.” Lon L. Fuller, Anatomy of the Law 42 (1968).
