> The law doesn’t increase liability with inflation (since 1872!) and hasn’t been amended since 1980.

This is one of my legal bug-bears. It really needs to be fixed. To use an example in my jurisdiction, theft becomes the equivalent of a felony when the value of the item stolen exceeds $5000. This law dates to the 1940s. That's about $65,000 today. It was not the intent of the legislature that stealing a cheap car carry up to 10 years in prison. At this rate it will soon be a felony to pinch a particularly nice steak.

The problem applies to every fixed dollar value in legislation. Fines are another big one. I'm pretty sure city council intended litterers to lose more than about one hour of average wages for littering in public.