Weird Laws

nightshade

Your grandfather is a cat
Staff member
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
18,370
Location
England
Black Thorn
Blame @Spanky for this thread!

Top 15 Weird UK Laws – Find the Strangest British Laws

#4. Do Not Get Drunk in a Pub
Shocking, yet apparently true one of the weird UK laws claims that you should not get drunk in a pub. In fact, according to Section 12 of the Licensing Act 1872, “every person found drunk in any highway or other public place, whether a building or not, or on any licensed premises” could be penalised. In other words, if you drink 3 or 5 ciders outside your house, you could be facing a fine of up to £200. Our advice? A night out could be pricey enough, so keep a count on those drinks.

#14. It Is Legal to Shoot a Scotsman Under Certain Circumstances
Yes, as bizarre as it may sound, according to an outdated English law, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman under specific circumstances. Still, there are certain factors that must be present. To begin with, you must be located in York. One of the strange UK laws claims that only in York if they happen to cross paths with a Scotsman, people are allowed to shoot him with a crossbow. Please note, however, that shooting Scots on Sundays remains forbidden. Or at least with a bow and an arrow… The same law claims that any Scotsman caught drunk or armed on Sunday, can still be shot, just not with a crossbow.

There's got to be loads of weird old laws though.
 
Last Watcher
Last Watcher
Remind me never to go to York! :o
Story of my life...

In Pennsylvania it's illegal for housewives to hide dirt and dust under a rug in your house.

Well, that just needs to be a law everyone. What's the purpose of marrying them if they don't do a good job cleaning.
 
Story of my life...

In Pennsylvania it's illegal for housewives to hide dirt and dust under a rug in your house.

Well, that just needs to be a law everyone. What's the purpose of marrying them if they don't do a good job cleaning.
That could go both ways
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
There was a typo, meant everywhere, not everyone. Men aren't supposed to do women's work.
"There was a typo, meant everywhere, not everyone. Men aren't supposed to do women's work. "

Oh! And you use a comment to do it so I can't reply! Very manly of you... 😝 (I tease!)
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
And there was me thinking that if a man does the work, it is not a woman's work
Oh! And you use a comment to do it so I can't reply! Very manly of you... 😝 (I tease!)
I learned that trick over the last few days. Spanky: disproving the myth about learning new tricks...
 
Here are some from my state (Nevada)....

It's illegal to drive a camel on the highway.

In Reno, it's illegal to hide a spray-painted shopping cart in your basement.

In Las Vegas, it's illegal to pawn your dentures.
 
ILLYRIAN
ILLYRIAN
Why is it illegal to drive a camel on the highway, simple a camel has 0 HP (horsepower).
Yeah, yeah, I get it, all right? I guess I shouldn't have said can't reply; I should have said so it would have been much more convoluted for me to reply... But I didn't think it had the same ring to it.

Anyway, we've all learned something new here, but we've kind of gone off topic.
 
It is illegal to pawn a wooden leg in Delaware.

It is illegal for a woman to cut her own hair without her husband's permission in Michigan.

It is illegal to sleep in a kitchen in California, but cooking in the bedroom is allowed.

It is illegal for grandchildren to marry their grandparents in Maryland.

It is illegal to anchor your boat to the train tracks in Jefferson City, Missouri.
 
Skanky Vamp
Skanky Vamp
most of those make sense though... 'cept for the leg thing. maybe it wasn't your own... illegal to pawn someone elses
I was shocked to learn that Denmark didn't make it illegal to have sexual intercourse with animals until 2012 😵
Upon first reading I thought it said Denmark didn't make it legal until 2012. I was packing my bags.
 
. You can be jailed for up to a year for cleaning up seabird or bat poo without a licence in Western Australia and you can also be fined thousands of dollars for possessing more than 50kg of potatoes under certain circumstances
I think the spud king challenge the potato law, he did something like that anyway. Maybe it was about growing potatoes? I cant remember but he changed some kind of potato law.

I've heard this one before but I don't think it is still true. In saying that I have ridden horses to pubs before and the local pub here has stables, but they are full of chooks.
Bars are required by law to stable, water and feed the horses of patrons.

Yes they fine us for everything, so I believe this one

If you get electrocuted to death then you will have to pay fines to the government. Apparently, according to the Australian laws, it is illegal to touch electric wires that can lead to your death. So, if you don’t want to pay a fine up to $200 then please keep a safe distance from electrical wires and don’t die because of them
 
In Germany, if your female spouse or friend with benefits gives birth, you need the mother's permission to take the child for a DNA test to see if it is yours. If you don't have her permission, you pay a 5000 euro fine and the evidence from the test is not allowable in a court of law. The purported father can refuse to sign the birth certificate, but he has no right to find out. Feminism gone malignant.
 
Cromwell banned people from eating mince pies in the UK on Christmas Day, which I believe is still technically a law.

Welshman are prohibited from entering Chester before the sun rises and have to leave before the sun goes down

Flying a Kite in a public place in the UK is technically illegal. Who would have thought that Mary Poppins was so naughty!
 
I did not know that. Why is it illegal?
It dated back a couple hundred years to the time when there weren't many public parks outside London and public space for the common man was limited, so people flying flags were considered a bit of a nuisance. But it probably wasn't enforced too often unless you were causing an obstruction

There are loads of old laws in the UK especially byelaws that haven't officially been taken off the books.
 
Back
Top Bottom