Butler Act

The Butler Act was a law in Tennessee, entered into force on 13 March 1925 which forbade to teach some in schools and universities wholly or partly financed by the State of Tennessee 's theory of evolution, according to which man was not created by God, as the Bible teaches, but descended from lower animals. For teachers, which offended against this, a fine of 100 to 500 dollar was provided.

According to the wording of the law it would have been legal to teach that monkeys descended from unicellular, to teach the mechanisms of variation and natural selection, or the prevailing scientific theories of geology and the age of the earth. It also urged not to teach the story of creation. Prohibitions was only to teach, that man is descended from a lower kind, or to teach other theories, according to which not God, have as described in Genesis, created man.

A tip of the debate between supporters and opponents of the Apes was the process in July 1925., The civil rights organization ACLU encouraged the teacher John Thomas Scopes for transgressing the law to bring it to the case before the court. Scopes was tried and sentenced to a fine of $ 100. The supporters of the law could prevail though, Scopes but won considerable public recognition and approval.

The Butler Act was repealed in 1967, after a teacher complaint was lodged against the fact that it the first Amendment to the Constitution of the United States restrict its guaranteed freedom of speech.

• Legal source of modern times
• Historical sources of law (United States)