More than four years after Boston City Hall approved a controversial rule limiting police officers’ usage of crowd-control agents such as tear gas and rubber bullets, a state judge has thrown the ordinance out after the city declined to defend it.

Suffolk Superior Judge Jackie Cowin deemed the rule invalid in August, saying the City Council had overstepped its authority by trying to create weapons policies for the police department.

But the issue was, in practice if not law, close to a moot point. Cowin, referring to the lack of lawsuits or discipline under this policy, added, “the City has not enforced the Ordinance, and apparently has no intention of doing so.”

The ordinance had not completely barred the police department from deploying pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and si

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