In China , it is illegal to rescue someone from drowning as you could be interfering with their fate ...In Switzerland, it is illegal for men to take a piss standing up after 10.30pm , meanwhile in Medieval England tomatoes were banned because they were considered to be strong stimulants.
Does anybody else know other absurd laws like these ?
www.dumblaws.com has lots of them, but many are of questionable validity.
I heard that in MO, all two-person hotel rooms have to have two beds at least three feet apart, and it's illegal to have sex in the space between beds.
I've also heard of more strange laws...some are real laws, some aren't, but most of 'em that are real just date back a long time to when they might have been deemed acceptable.
I heard on the local news once, a looong time ago, that in Arizona, it is illegal to put a camel in a sandbox. (At least, I think it was a camel)
there was a whole book about stupid laws in the library at my old school. It was called Donkeys can't sleep in bathtubs, because in some state I don't remember which it is illegal for donkeys to sleep in the bathtub.
They're fake.
Actually, there are quite a few laws about camels in Arizona....Quote:
I heard on the local news once, a looong time ago, that in Arizona, it is illegal to put a camel in a sandbox. (At least, I think it was a camel)
Back in the days of the gold mines, somebody got the bright idea to import camels for hauling ore from the mines that were up in the mountains where building a branch line to the railroad was too far or too difficult. The problem is, people thought camels were some kind of near-mythical beast that never needed to eat or drink, and they couldn't figure out why the poor things kept dying.
There are also a lot of laws about baths--so went the common wisdom, that if you take a bath you get wet, and if you get wet you get chilled, and any fool knows that getting chilled will make you sick. So when these researchers went on about 'microbes' and 'germs' and all that wierd stuff, doctors pressed to have laws that made bathing either illegal or just plain difficult--thus there are laws on the books about when you can bathe, or what you have to wear while bathing, or where, etc., etc., etc.
Moreover, removing a law is a somewhat difficult process, so often it's easier to just leave the law on the books and not bother to enforce it.
My favorite law is the one in Bakersfield, CA, that says a woman can't drink without a signed note of permission from her husband--but a man can't chew tobacco without a signed note of permission from his wife.
In nearby Kennesaw, GA all homeowners are required to own a gun. It isn't enforced, though.
I don't know about enforcement, but the punishment is a small fine, and if you tell the town government that you won't have one for religious religions or because of strong personal beliefs, you're exempted from it.Quote:
In nearby Kennesaw, GA all homeowners are required to own a gun. It isn't enforced, though.
On the other hand, that law is the reason that crime in Kennesaw, GA is much, much lower than just about anywhere else.
In Washington, DC, on the other hand, where owning a handgun gets you five years, the murder rate is just atrocious
I don't actually know if that law is enforced or not. Maybe you are required to present your gun permit to buy a house in Kennesaw.
Is owning a handgun in DC actually illegal? That's pretty dumb, although I dare say DC would have a higher crime rate than Kennesaw whether everyone owned a gun or not simply based on population density.
Effectively, yes. You are allowed to own a handgun if it's registered--but the limit for registering your handgun was February 5, 1977. So if you bought your gun after that--or before that but didn't register it in Washington, DC--you can't own it there or bring one into or through the city (The police have stated, however, that they don't enforce that on nonresidents travelling through the city as long as the weapon is unloaded, secured, and locked in a trunk--and you don't stop on your way through the city).Quote:
Is owning a handgun in DC actually illegal?
But while the laws are still rather stringent in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and many other large cities, they're far more lenient than in Washington DC--and Washington's crime rate is far higher than any of these cities as well.Quote:
That's pretty dumb, although I dare say DC would have a higher crime rate than Kennesaw whether everyone owned a gun or not simply based on population density.
There are dumblaws in alot of states though they aren't enforced.When a cop does enforce them.They are usually the over-sealious bastard or they are lazy and want to get there quota up.
Often enough, if they know you're doing something they can't gather enough evidence to bust you for, or if you'd just up and pissed them off, they can dig up something to bust you with.Quote:
There are dumblaws in alot of states though they aren't enforced.When a cop does enforce them.They are usually the over-sealious bastard or they are lazy and want to get there quota up.
But most of the dumbest ones just go unenforced--can you imagine the laughingstock a town would be if it busted someone for walking across the street with an ice-cream cone in their pocket, or for taking a bath in November?