More difficulty with "as":  

>1 laws ***as*** they existed in the 1900s  
>2 laws ***as*** they relate to public schools  

According to standard English, the two sentences mean respectively:  

>3 laws ***in the form*** they existed in in the 1900s  
>4 laws ***in the way*** they relate to public schools  


Sentence 3 makes sense, because it means "laws of a certain type".  But, I couldn't quite make the same connection with sentence 4.  Laws are not action, so using "in the way" with laws seem strange.