Ridiculous Laws

[looksgoodinred]

Bumped into this link while reading an article about the advent of loos in Scotland on the BBC site today (hard to believe that in 1970, "one in four Scots still had to share an outdoor toilet"!)

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22214728

 

but i digress.

 

they had a link to stupid laws (one of which, #5, they debunked in the original article on toilets).

 

but i suspect some of the others may actually be real, since lots of countries seem to have old odd laws still on the books.

 

i do think the one about allowing a pregnant woman in the UK to relieve herself anywhere she wants is funny, if it's true.

 

 

in Canada there's a law that you can't pay for a fifty-cent item in pennies (not really an issue any more, since we no longer produce pennies). or at least doesn't require a shopkeeper to accept payment in pennies.

 

and i know in my neighbourhood, until recently, you weren't allowed to have a clothesline in your back garden.

 

any others you've heard of? or wish would be put in force, if you had a say in it?

 

 

 

 

Ten stupidest laws are named

These are the stupidest laws, according to percentage share of public vote.

Most ridiculous British laws:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (7%)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (5%)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (4%)

6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)

8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)

Most ridiculous foreign laws:

1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%)

2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)

3. In Bahrain, a male doctor can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)

4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)

5. In Alabama, it is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle (6%)

6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)

7. In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth (6%)

8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except funerals or hospital visits (5%)

9. In Japan, there is no age of consent (5%)

10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1568475/Ten-stupidest-laws-are-named.html

 

[daytripping]

My great granny had an outside toilet, just a wooden board with a hole in it, wasn't too bad.

[The Boofon]

All of those British "laws" have been cancelled by newer law making so your thread is a load of shite.

[newcastlered]

Pretty fitting the punishment for masturbation is ripping the head off.

[rgudon]

calm doon roidy

All of those British "laws" have been cancelled by newer law making so your thread is a load of shite.

[StandFree1982]

In Alabama, it is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle.

 

Nothing wrong with that Law.