theme_form_element() initialize a variable that is never used

API page: http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/core%21includes%21form.inc/function/the...

The function contains the following code.

  $element = &$variables['element'];
  // This is also used in the installer, pre-database setup.
  $t = get_t();

$t is never used from the theme function.

That code is remains of Drupal 6 code, where the variable was used from the following code.

    if (!empty($element['#id'])) {
      $output .= ' <label for="' . $element['#id'] . '">' . $t('!title: !required', array('!title' => filter_xss_admin($title), '!required' => $required)) . "</label>\n";
    }
    else {
      $output .= ' <label>' . $t('!title: !required', array('!title' => filter_xss_admin($title), '!required' => $required)) . "</label>\n";
    }

The code has been changed since Drupal 7, but the variable is still initialized.