subs. (colloquial).—Anything that has lost its force or authority by lapse of time or other causes.
1755. FIELDING, Voyage to Lisbon, p. 145. And to enact laws without doing this, is to fill our statute-books, much too full already, still fuller with DEAD LETTER, of no use but to the printer of the Acts of Parliament.
1859. G. A. SALA, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. The Metropolitan Buildings’ Act is a DEAD LETTER in Tattyboys Rents, for nobody ever thinks of building.
1861. Chambers’ Encyclopædia, s.v. Bunkum. Many laws, agitated for by popular factions, remain a DEAD LETTER, unless they happen to be enforced by clubs organized for the purpose.
