Lovely little conundrum, isn't it? Maybe we need to keep that in mind when we try to 'perfect' codes, or get into design issues. It's also a caution about blindly accepting whatever the 'wiseguys' decide.
Yet, with a newer 'model' code published, but not adopted, it is simply wrong to enforce language that has since been removed. That's precisely the sort of thing that led to the creation of the jury system - where no one is bound by 'precedent' or 'logic.' Indeed, the jury is the one place where someone can refuse to enforce a law that is seen as simply wrong, or wrongfully applied.
It's no accident that the Soviet author and political prisoner Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote of several such instances: folks imprisoned for making 'treasonous' or 'antisocial' assertions that were later found to be accurate. Unfortunately, that did not often result in the convicted being released. Nor was the 'system' in any way self-correction; the convict had to petition for a review.
We can't 'petition for review' after a building is built. Once an expensive error is made, the money and time is gone forever. So what's the solution?
Well, I've seen town councils move with lightning speed to enact bans on whatever harmless behavior becomes popular with unpopular ethnic, religious, or age groups. I suggest every inspector get the wheels turning to have enforcement of these questionable code provisions officially be put on hold, as quickly as possible.
