Unusual laws?

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Half-hearted clapping of the leader...a crime in North Korea

What other sorts of unusual laws in any country can anyone find to add to this particular one ?

 

[yorksrob]

My old primary teacher used to say that we had a law against eating mince pies, left over from the Cromwell era. This was the 80's, so whether it's been swept off of the statute book since, I don't know.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

There are hundreds, if not thousands, though I'm not sure which have been legalised and which haven't. It used to be illegal in this country to beat a mat outside after 0800, and it's legal in Chester to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow in a certain area of the city on a certain day; or something along those lines. Across the Pond, it's illegal to wear fake facial hair which may cause laughter in church in Alabama.

 

[Amberley54]

There are hundreds, if not thousands, though I'm not sure which have been legalised and which haven't. It used to be illegal in this country to beat a mat outside after 0800, and it's legal in Chester to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow in a certain area of the city on a certain day; or something along those lines. Across the Pond, it's illegal to wear fake facial hair which may cause laughter in church in Alabama.

you can only shoot an armed Welshman in Chester between dusk and dawn.

In Bristol there is a bye-law forbidding having sex UNDER a motor vehicle, but no mention of doing in ON or IN a motor vehicle.

 

[trickyvegas]

One of the carribean countries has a law against wearing any form of camouflage clothing. I also believe it is illegal to drive a 4-wheel drive vehicle in the Puntas Arenas area of Chile.

 

[starrymarkb]

There is a city in the US where there is a $500 fine for detonating a nuclear bomb within the city limits!

 

[ATW Alex 101]

There is one that goes something like women are not allowed to be topless in public unless in a tropical fish store in Liverpool.

 

[DownSouth]

The Shire of Esperance in Western Australia issued a $400 littering fine to the US government when the Skylab space station re-entered and spread itself over a 150km debris field. It went unpaid for 30 years before an American radio host organised his listeners to pay the fine on NASA's behalf.

Taxis in NSW are legally required to carry a bale of hay in the boot.

 

[Jonny]

Several jurisdictions (including Northern Ireland) have laws against 'jaywalking' which is crossing say, against a (still) red man or between crossing points (apart from roads such as motorways where pedestrians are prohibited).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking

Jaywalking is illegal or reckless pedestrian crossing of a roadway.

also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/6251431.stm

In the UK no one would bat an eyelid. In Atlanta, you could be wrestled to the ground...

 

[DownSouth]

I don't see why jaywalking could be regarded as a strange law, it exists for precisely the same reason that people in some jurisdictions are restricted from the far less dangerous practice of crossing a railway line at locations other than official crossing points.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

At lot of these aren't really law anymore. Whilst some of them do exist on the statute books, and the Law Commission works to remove them (nothing more than tidying up really), law has since over-ruled them. For example, it is plainly and legally obvious that shooting a Welshman with a bow and arrow in the city of Chester between dawn and dusk is murder.

I have no doubt that Paul's example is true though!

 

[Greenback]

you can only shoot an armed Welshman in Chester between dusk and dawn.

Isn't there soemthign similar in Hereford concerning Sundays?

 

[W-on-Sea]

Belarus, having a government that, while highly authoritarian, falls some way short of that of North Korea, takes a different approach: It's illegal to clap, at all, there.

http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-lukashenka-ig-nobel/25105140.html

 

[gazthomas]

One of the carribean countries has a law against wearing any form of camouflage clothing. I also believe it is illegal to drive a 4-wheel drive vehicle in the Puntas Arenas area of Chile.

Barbados I think

 

[Harbon 1]

It's illegal to fish using a rod from a moving car on a bridge somewhere in the US

 

[High Dyke]

At lot of these aren't really law anymore. Whilst some of them do exist on the statute books, and the Law Commission works to remove them (nothing more than tidying up really), law has since over-ruled them. For example, it is plainly and legally obvious that shooting a Welshman with a bow and arrow in the city of Chester between dawn and dusk is murder.

I have no doubt that Paul's example is true though!

The great people at the Law Commission’s Statute Law Repeals team (SLRt), whose job is to ‘clean up‘ outdated legislation, have gone through some of the more commonly quoted ‘weird laws’ and done a little research to determine if they are true or false. The SLRt does note that its list is not definitive. Given that a large majority of odd laws stem from ancient by-laws that are incredibly difficult to research, I think that statement is entirely understandable.

•You can’t shoot a Welsh person on Sunday with a longbow within city walls.
The SLRt says that this is a no-no. I particularly like that the SLRt notes that not only can you not shoot a Welsh person on a Sunday with a longbow within the city walls, but that it is illegal to shoot them on any other day, in any other place, and with any other choice of weaponry. I’m glad that was clarified. The SLRt notes that this statement may have stemmed from a City Ordinance passed in 1403 that required Welshmen to be expelled from certain places.

•It is illegal to enter the House of Commons wearing a suit of armour.For anyone who has ever thought about doing this, think again. It is indeed unlawful, and even has its own Act rather descriptively entitled A Statute forbidding Bearing of Armour, dated 1313. I do believe that this little oddity is still relevant today. I know I would be distracted if someone entered the Commons wearing a suit of armour.

http://blogs.loc.gov/law/2011/10/weird-laws-or-urban-legends/

 

[Harbon 1]

Isn't it also a requirement for males to undertake so many hours of bow practice a week in the UK?

 

[Bungle73]

I don't see why jaywalking could be regarded as a strange law, it exists for precisely the same reason that people in some jurisdictions are restricted from the far less dangerous practice of crossing a railway line at locations other than official crossing points.

Because it ridiculously requires you to wait for the green man even when there isn't a car to be seen, or to walk hundreds of yards to a designated crossing even though it is perfectly safe to cross where you are. Every adult should be capable of doing a simple thing like crossing the road.

Railways are different. Cars don't suddenly silently appear at a high speed with a vast stopping distance.

Also the figures don't support jaywalking being illegal making pedestrians any safer anyway.

 

[Gemz91]

Always think that if you don't live in Britain you must consider it odd that you have to have a licence to own a TV here.

 

[chorleyjeff]

Always think that if you don't live in Britain you must consider it odd that you have to have a licence to own a TV here.

Surely you mean use a TV.
Otherwise I could watch my wife's TV free even if she lived somewhere abroad.
Jeff

 

[Bungle73]

The UK is not the only country to require a TV licence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Surely you mean use a TV.
Otherwise I could watch my wife's TV free even if she lived somewhere abroad.
Jeff

You have to have a licence to watch TV as it is being broadcast. It's perfectly legitimate in some circumstances to have a TV without needed a licence.

 

[bangor-toad]

One I came across that made me wonder how it came to exist at all:

In one of the US states (I believe Nevada but may be wrong) it is illegal to hunt ducks with a firearm whilst flying an aeroplane.

Cue visions of breaking the law by stealing the latest US stealth plane, a rifle and sneaking up on flights of migrating ducks!

Cheers,
Jason

 

[DownSouth]

Because it ridiculously requires you to wait for the green man even when there isn't a car to be seen, or to walk hundreds of yards to a designated crossing even though it is perfectly safe to cross where you are. Every adult should be capable of doing a simple thing like crossing the road.

Railways are different. Cars don't suddenly silently appear at a high speed with a vast stopping distance.

Also the figures don't support jaywalking being illegal making pedestrians any safer anyway.

Most jaywalking statutes specify using a marked crossing only being mandatory if there is one within a specified distance - in South Australia this is either 25 or 30 metres (can't remember exactly right now) which is 15-20 seconds walking distance. Even though it is primarily a safety measure intended for the education of children learning to cross roads safely, I agree with it having an offence provision because a law incapable of being enforced is useless - and because some people are too thick to get the message from a car screeching to a halt just in time to avoid killing them thanks to an alert driver.

I agree that railways are a little different. Unless they are high speed lines running at >150 km/h, I see no problem with including unsignalled pedestrian maze crossings at locations with adequate sighting. Rural lines with speeds of less than 80 km/h shouldn't need to be fenced at all.

 

[jonty14]

Because it ridiculously requires you to wait for the green man even when there isn't a car to be seen, or to walk hundreds of yards to a designated crossing even though it is perfectly safe to cross where you are. Every adult should be capable of doing a simple thing like crossing the road.

Railways are different. Cars don't suddenly silently appear at a high speed with a vast stopping distance.

Also the figures don't support jaywalking being illegal making pedestrians any safer anyway.

Try living in Germany. Once an old woman had a right go at me for crossing the road on a red light. Not a vehicle in sight! I find it funny the way people wait at traffic lights when nothing is coming!

 

[atillathehunn]

The Shire of Esperance in Western Australia issued a $400 littering fine to the US government when the Skylab space station re-entered and spread itself over a 150km debris field. It went unpaid for 30 years before an American radio host organised his listeners to pay the fine on NASA's behalf.

Interesting. International Law determines strict liability for incidents concerning space exploration and its effects (including debris falling on other states). The terms of state responsibility dictate numerous things, which naturally includes compensation to the state affected. The bill should have been well in excess of $400...

 

[DownSouth]

Interesting. International Law determines strict liability for incidents concerning space exploration and its effects (including debris falling on other states). The terms of state responsibility dictate numerous things, which naturally includes compensation to the state affected. The bill should have been well in excess of $400...

Claims under what is commonly known the Space Liability Convention need to be brought by a state against the state which launched it (that is, sovereign states, not Western Australia vs Florida) and the Commonwealth Government declined to do that as there was no damage caused.

The $400 littering fine was imposed by the local government, and was only ever intended to be a joke. It only got dug up in 2008 when an incident on the space shuttle prompted a news host to look into previous instances of space debris, and after discovering the 'fine' he called the mayor of Esperance to see if it had ever been paid.

 

[Robinson]

In Britain you still face life in jail if you are not a royalist...

Source - The Independent

 

[transmanche]

There are hundreds, if not thousands, though I'm not sure which have been legalised and which haven't. It used to be illegal in this country to beat a mat outside after 0800, and it's legal in Chester to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow in a certain area of the city on a certain day; or something along those lines.

A lot of these 'laws' are simply made-up (such as the one about topless women in Liverpool, etc).

Most are more myth than fact, or at the very least a very exaggerated interpretation of the facts: such as the oft-quoted 'killing a Welshman in Chester/Shrewsbury/Hereford' examples. (Usually thought to stem from a curfew in force during a 'military emergency', following Welsh uprisings.)

Others (like the doormat-shaking) are perfectly true - an offence under s60 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 and s28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, both of which are still in force.

Source: Law Commission.

There's also a common law doctrine of implied repeal. If a new law contradicts an earlier law, it is implied that the earlier law is repealed - even if the later law does not specifically state it.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Not an 'unusual law' but an unusual instance of a very well known law:
The song "Happy Birthday to You" is still in copyright and that Copyright is owned by Time Warner AOL. (Some people dispute this).

Copy it at your peril !


The legal enthusiast Benjamin Pell used to raid the dust bins of celebrities and their law firms in London, and then sell any scandalous evidence he found in letters or bank statements to the press. His activities are not Theft.


Following a crime where nothing was stolen, the man who had stolen nothing was convicted of Theft.
A well-known London pick-pocket was seen picking-an empty pocket.