What Stupid Laws Does Your State Have?

Lounge
1

The laws listed below are, or ast least were laws in the United States. Some have been repealed, and some still remain in effect, apparantly forgotten.

Alabama

  • In Jasper, it is illegal for a husband to beat his wife with a stick larger in diameter than his thumb.
  • It is illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
  • It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.
  • It is illegal to play Dominos on Sunday.
  • Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.

Alaska

  • In Fairbanks, it is illegal to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.
  • While it is legal to shoot bears, waking sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph is prohibited.

Arizona

  • In Tucson, it is illegal for women to wear pants.
  • In Globe, it is illegal to play cards in the street with a Native American.
  • In Glendale, it is illegal to drive a car in reverse.
  • In Nogales, it is illegal to wear suspenders.

Arkansas

  • A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
  • In Fayetteville, it is illegal to kill “any living creature”.
  • Flirtation between men and women on the streets of Little Rock may result in a 30-Day jail term.

California

  • Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship.
  • Women may not drive in a house coat.
  • In Pacific Groove, “molesting” butterflies can result in a $500 fine.
  • It is illegal to set a mousetrap without a hunting license.
  • In San Francisco, it is illegal to wipe one’s car with used underwear.
  • It is a misdemeanor to shoot at any kind of game from a moving vehicle, unless the target is a whale.

Colorado

  • In Logan County, it is illegal for a man to kiss a woman while she is asleep.

Connecticut

  • It is illegal to dispose used razor blades.
  • In New Britain, the speed limit for fire trucks is 25 m.p.h. even when going to a fire.
  • In Hartford, it is illegal for a man to kiss his wife on Sunday.

Delaware

  • It is illegal to fly over any body of water, unless one is carrying sufficient supplies of food and drink.

Florida

  • If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
  • In Miami, it is illegal for a man to wear any kind of strapless gown.
  • Unmarried women who parachute on Sundays may be jailed.
  • When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
  • In Sarasota, it is illegal to sing while wearing a bathing suit.

Georgia

  • While Georgia operates its own lottery, it “protects” its citizens by making it illegal to promote a private lottery.
  • Members of the state assembly cannot be ticketed for speeding while the state assembly is in session.
  • Donkeys may not be kept in bathtubs.
  • No one may carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket on Sunday.

Hawaii

  • It is illegal to appear in public wearing only swimming trunks.
    It is illegal to own a mongoose without a permit.

Idaho

  • You may not fish on a camel’s back.

Illinois

  • In Chicago, it is illegal to take a French poodle to the opera.
  • According to state law, it is illegal to speak English. The officially recognized language is “American”.

Indiana

  • Monkeys are forbidden to smoke cigarettes in South Bend.
  • It is illegal for a liquor store to sell cold soft drinks.

Iowa

  • State law forbids any establishment from charging admission to see a one-armed piano player.
  • In Fort Madison, firemen are required to practice for 15 minutes before attending a fire.

Kansas

  • Prohibits shooting rabbits from a motorboat.

Kentucky

  • It is illegal to remarry the same man four times.

Louisiana

  • In New Orleans, fire trucks are required by law to stop at all red lights.
  • It is considered “simple assault” to bite someone in New Orleans; it is “aggravated assault” if the biter has false teeth.
  • It is against the law to gargle in public.
  • It is illegal to rob a bank and then shoot at the bank teller with a water pistol.

Maine

  • In Waterville, it is illegal to blow one’s nose in public.

Maryland

  • In Halethorpe, it is illegal to kiss for more than one second.

Massachusetts

  • In Salem, even married couples are forbidden from sleeping in the nude in rented rooms.
  • It is illegal to wear a goatee without a license.
  • In Boston, it is illegal to take a bath unless one has been ordered by a physician to do so.
  • In 1659, the state outlawed Christmas.

Michigan

  • In Clawson, it is legal for a farmer to “sleep with his pigs, cows, horses, goats, and chickens.”
  • A state law stipulates that a woman’s hair legally belongs to her husband.
  • In Detroit, it is illegal to make love in a car unless it is parked on your property.
  • You may not swear in front of women and children in the state of Michigan.
  • In Port Huron, the speed limit for ambulances in 20 m.p.h.
  • Under state law, dentists are officially classified as “mechanics.”

Minnesota

  • Women may face up to 30 days in jail if they impersonate Santa Claus.
  • In Minneapolis, double-parkers can be put on a chain gang.
  • Every man in Brainerd is required by law to grow a beard.
  • It’s illegal to tease skunks.

Mississippi

  • In Truro, a would-be groom must “prove himself manly” prior to marriage by hunting and killing either six blackbirds or three crows.

Missouri

  • It is illegal to have oral sex.
  • Single men between the ages of twenty-one and fifty must pay an annual tax of one dollar (enacted 1820).

Montana

  • Prostitution is considered a “crime against the family”.
  • It is a felony for a wife to open her husband’s mail.
  • It is illegal for married women to go fishing alone on Sundays, and illegal for unmarried women to fish alone at all.
  • It is illegal for a man and a woman to have sex in any other position other than missionary style.
  • Seven or more indians are considered a raiding or war party and it is legal to shoot them.

Nebraska

  • It is illegal for bar owners to sell beer unless they are simultaneously brewing a kettle of soup.

Nevada

  • It is illegal to drive a camel on the highway.
  • It’s still “legal” to hang someone for shooting your dog on your property.

New Hampshire

  • You cannot sell the clothes you are wearing to pay off a gambling debt.
  • It is illegal to pick seaweed up off of the beach.
  • Any cattle that crosses state roads must be fitted with a device to gather its feces.
  • On Sundays citizens may not relieve themselves while looking up.

New Jersey

  • Spray paint may not be sold without a posted sign warning juveliles of the penalty for creating graffiti.
  • It is illegal to wear a bullet-proof vest while committing a murder.
  • It is against the law for a man to knit during the fishing season.

New Mexico

  • It’s forbidden for a female to appear unshaven in public.
  • Hunting is prohibited in Mountain View Cemetery.

New York

  • A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting. This old law specifically prohibits men from turning around on any city street and looking “at a woman in that way.” A second conviction for a crime of this magnitude calls for the violating male to be forced to wear a “pair of horse-blinders” wherever and whenever he goes outside for a stroll.
  • It is against the law to throw a ball at someone’s head for fun.
  • A license must be purchased before hanging clothes on a clothesline.
  • The penalty for jumping off a building is death.

North Dakota

  • Beer and pretzels can’t be served at the same time in any bar or restaurant.
  • It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on.

Ohio

  • It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday.
  • It is illegal to get a fish drunk.

Pennsylvania

  • A person is not eligible to become Governor if he/she has participated in a duel.

Texas

  • It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.
  • It is illegal to drive without windshield wipers. You don’t need a windshield, but you must have the wipers.
  • It is illegal for one to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.
  • It is illegal to milk another person’s cow.
  • A recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed.
  • The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home.

Wisconsin

  • You must manually flush all urinals in a building.
  • Butter substitutes are not allowed to be served in state prisons.
2

Now how many times have you broken this law-- this week? :wink:

3

There’s a town on the England/Scotland border called Berwick upon Tweed(population 26,000). Historically, it has switched between English rule and Scottish rule as it’s been captured from ‘the enemy’ As such it is usually referred to separately in State documents such as laws and declarations of war.

It was included in the declaration of war for the Crimean war but was missed off the peace treaty. As such it was officially at war with the USSR until the late 1980s when the mayor went to Moscow to sign a peace treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev. The mayor’s parting comment ?
" You can tell the people of Moscow that they can sleep safely tonight!"

Cold War, pah, the Russkies were more scared of a few angry Northern Englishmen :wink:

Going back to US law, I did hear that women couldn’t drive cars in Birmingham, Alabama unless they were following a man who had to be walking and waving a red flag.

4

It is still technically legal to kill a Scotsman within the city walls of York, as long as you use a a crossbow.

I wouldn’t try it though.

5

But only on a Sunday! the same law applies in Chester if you shoot a Welshman!

I did hear that Jack Straw was going to be repealing a lot of these in the next year or so, no fun!

6

Who me? What makes you think I sip? :roll_eyes:

7

Idaho

  • You may not fish on a camel’s back.

Just how large is the camel population in Idaho, no You Da Ho!

8

Yes, but York is a little strange. The Bars are Gates and the Gates are Streets. :roll_eyes:

9

That’s “Cash American”, in

Illinois where our Governors make our license plates. :smiley:

10

OK I am still confused about the camel population in Idaho. Did they die off because of this fishing ban?

11

no, they were driven to Nevada, where they were banned from being driven on the highway.

Isn’t a “Camel’s back” a type of personal inflatable boat?

12

In Jonesboro, Georgia, the location of the fictional Tara plantation, it’s illegal to say “Oh boy!”. The reason is because “boy” is considered a racial epithet. Black males pre-civil rights act, on back to the days of slavery were often simply called “Boy”. Now, while I understand the sensitivity to racial connotations, I believe apprentices in Victorian England and before were often called “boy”.

-D4

13

You know, it’s really not a good idea for a bored british lawyer to be reading this thread but hey, here’s a few more I pulled out of the statute book this morning!

It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down. Until last year, this was potentially punishable by death.

In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day. This law was passed by Oliver Cromwell as mince pies were used for coded messages by his Catholic enemies

A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman’s helmet

And a few International ones

In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation :open_mouth:

In Bahrain, a male doctor can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror

In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm

In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth

In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except funerals or hospital visits

and my personal favourite, In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon

14

So. . .does this apply to survivors as well?

15

In California, we were going to have a regulation requiring remote controlled thermostats but we defeated that. the state was going to have the power to set your thermostat and, later, to control all your household applicances.

However, the new “stimulus” bill (if it passes) makes that a nation-wide requirement.

That’s what “Smart Grids” really means.

16

Let me guess, they’ll be hidden cameras in the thermastats too, right?

Can you say Big Brother?

17

No cameras but they will be Bluetooth equipped as will all your new appliances, your electric meter, and who-knows what else.

This way they can drive by your house, read your electric consumption, check that your house has responded to real or test signals, and, if necessary, turn off your electric connection to the grid.

The design specification only calls for “moderated degree of security” so Hello Chinese Hackers!

The possibilities for government intrusion are endless.

But for you folks who voted Democrat, thanks for the change in our freedoms!

18

You can avoid that easily. Just move to some remote location. Hey, maybe Ted Kaczynski’s cabin in Lincoln Montana is still available.:smiley:

19

Alaska
It is considered an offense to push a live moose out of a moving airplane.
Soldotna

  • Persons may not allow “attractive nuisances” to exist.
20

In TN you are allowed to date your sister as long as she is on your mothers side of the family.

I’m not even sure what the hell that means :slight_smile: