Today is the day of tricks or treats, of lit jack-o-lanterns, and of dressing in costumes silly or scary or downright outlandish.  But Halloween gives rise to more than ghouls and goblins; it also produces facts for interesting case law.  How about the neighbor whose lawn decorations included a sign saying “Insane Asylum” with an arrow pointing toward the plaintiff’s house, along with a homemade tombstone that allegedly referenced the plaintiff and read:

At 48 She had

No mate No date

It’s no debate

She looks 88

She met her fate

in a crate

Now We Celebrate

1961–2009.

Click here for an article in the New York State Bar Association Journal by Attorney Daniel B. Moar, collecting what he calls “Case Law from the Crypt:  The Law of Halloween,” including the above case as well as a case where the court held as a matter of law that a house was haunted.

Trick or treat!