Dumb laws and your favorite ones

[Kaneki 1,072]

Alright, so I know of this site called http://www.dumblaws.com/ and was wondering, what are some of your favorite dumb laws from your state?

 

Here are mine from my state, Indiana:

"State government officials who engage in private duels can be dismissed from their post."

 

"It is illegal for a liquor store to sell cold soft drinks." ( more info )

 

"You are required to pour your drink into a glass."

 

What about your state?

Edited December 1, 2016 by Cloggedone

[Clod 8,293]

I can't fish off the neck of a giraffe and I can't have a gorilla in the back seat of my car.

I also cannot go to bed without first taking a full bath and if I snore I have to keep my windows closed.

I can't have tomatoes in my clam chowder.

An old law says that goatees are illegal unless you first pay a special license fee.

Liquor stores cannot be open on Sundays unless they are in Berkshire, Essex, Franklin, Middlesex, or Worcester counties and are within 10 miles of the Vermont or New Hampshire borders.

All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday.

Alcoholic drink specials are illegal.

Public boxing matches are illegal.

A woman cannot be on top during sexual activities (why would the police know)

Tattooing and body piercing was illegal until 2000.

 

thanks, massachusetts.

[Overdrive 5,366]

From the Keystone State, where I'm from (Pennsylvania):

 

It is contrary to Pennsylvania law to discharge a gun, cannon, revolver or other explosive weapon at a wedding.

 

All liquor stores must be run by the state.

 

It is illegal to have over 16 women live in a house together because that constitutes a brothel.

 

Motorized vehicles are not to be sold on Sundays.

 

It it illegal to sleep on top of a refrigerator outdoors.

 

You may not catch a fish with your hands.

 

Any motorist driving along a country road at night must stop every mile and send up a rocket signal, wait 10 minutes for the road to be cleared of livestock, and continue.

 

You may not catch a fish by any body part except the mouth.

 

A special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug in a dwelling.

 

Dynamite is not to be used to catch fish.

 

You may not sing in the bathtub.

 

Though you do not need a fishing license to fish on your own land, but a hunting license is required to hunt on your own land.

 

Fireworks stores may not sell fireworks to Pennsylvania residents.

 

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

 

Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass.

 

Ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk.

 

No more than two packages of beer at a time may be purchased, unless you are buying from an official “beer distributor”.

 

In addition, there's a few odd city/borough laws:

 

Allentown

There is a ban on men becoming aroused in public.

 

Bensalem

Persons convicted of felonies may not operate Bingo games.

Full text of the law.

 

Operators of bingo games may not advertise the prizes offered.

 

Carlisle

In the middle of town, one must pay a fee of $50 dollars a year to park on a particular block.

 

Connellsville

One’s pants may be worn no lower than five inches below the waist.

 

Danville

All fire hydrants must be checked one hour before all fires.

 

Millville

The sale of alcohol is prohibited.

 

One may not shoot any dog that is found wandering the streets.

 

Morrisville

It is required that a woman have a permit to wear cosmetics.

 

Newtown

Every outlet or switch (which can be purchased for 59 cents) that is installed requires an electrical inspection fee of 1 dollar and 33 cents.

 

Pittsburgh

No one is allowed to sleep on a refrigerator.

 

It is still illegal to bring a donkey or a mule onto a trolley car.

 

Ridley Park

You cannot walk backwards eating peanuts in front of the Barnstormers Auditorium during a performance.

 

Tarentum

Horses are not to be tied to parking meters.

[TBD 17,228]

 

All men must carry a rifle to church on Sunday.

 

May God be with your people who will be attending at the chunch.....

[Overdrive 5,366]

May God be with your people who will be attending at the chunch.....

I would've expected something like that down in the Bible Belt.

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

Probably my all time favorite is one from Florida. Apparently it is illegal to have sexual relations with a Porcupine... Wonder what the hell was going on in their minds when they passed this.

 

Though I'm from Arizona, so here's a few dumb ones my fellow Arizonians came up with...

 

-Hunting camels is prohibited 

 

-Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs

 

-Making fake cocaine is illegal 

 

-No more than 6 girls can live together in a house (Maricopa County)

 

-Anyone caught stealing soap must wash themselves with it until it is used up (Mohave County)

 

-Women may not wear pants (Tuscon)

 

-A misdemeanor commited while wearing red is a felony

 

 

 

These last two are considered dumb by the community, but I agree with

 

-Its illegal to refuse someone a glass of water

 

-Its unlawful to cut down a cactus

[shy0wl 484]

Are these laws actually real?  New York:

 

1.) It is illegal to congregate in public with two or more people while each wearing a mask or any face covering which disguises your identity.

2.) The penalty for jumping off a building is death.

3.) A person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.

4.) While riding in an elevator, one must talk to no one, and fold his hands while looking toward the door.

5.) Slippers are not to be worn after 10:00 PM.

6.) Citizens may not greet each other by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers”.

 

There's no way that these can be actually real laws, can there?

[Anneal 2,194]

It should be noted that most of these "laws" you see are generally either made up for extra shock value or just outdated or unenforced. For example, it's illegal to eat oranges in a bathtub in California, but that was because the law was passed in 1920 and people thought the citric acid in oranges could make an explosive mix if mixed with bath oils. While some laws like that get repealed, some stay anyway because certain state governments don't feel like spending more time removing silly laws when they can simply choose to keep it there and let it fade to obscurity.

[cmarston1 5,951]

My favorite has to be that it is illegal to get a fish drunk.

I mean can fish even get drunk?

And if so, how would one even do so.

[Anneal 2,194]

My favorite has to be that it is illegal to get a fish drunk.

I mean can fish even get drunk?

And if so, how would one even do so.

More likely than not that's a law taken out of context. It may have come from a court case that set precedent, or from a different time periodnwhere the law did make sense.

 

Probably my all time favorite is one from Florida.

-Hunting camels is prohibited 

 

-Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs

 

-Making fake cocaine is illegal 

 

-No more than 6 girls can live together in a house (Maricopa County)

 

-Anyone caught stealing soap must wash themselves with it until it is used up (Mohave County)

 

-Women may not wear pants (Tuscon)

 

-A misdemeanor commited while wearing red is a felony

 

These last two are considered dumb by the community, but I agree with

 

-Its illegal to refuse someone a glass of water

 

-Its unlawful to cut down a cactus

For example, hunting camels were prohibited because Arizona had the United States Camel Corps in the 1850s and 60s. It was an experiment to use camels as militart pack animals in the Arizona Territory when railroads haven't fully developed there and there needed to be some way to travel through the desert. However, the Civil War cut the experiment short and Arizona passed the law to minimize the aftereffects.

 

And in 1924, the law that donkeys could not sleep in bathtubs was because a merchant's donkey slept in a bathtub and washed away after a serious flood, requiring some effort to help retreive the donkey. It was made on the spur of the moment but the law was basically obselete shortly afterward.

 

Making fake drugs of anything is illegal, actually, so that goes for narcotics, especially if you're trying to sell them. Also, that "more than 6 girls in a house" law is fake. There are laws that restrict more than three unrelated people from living in a house, though, because immigrants, mostly Central American, back then tried to cram families into a single house.

 

Also it's illegal to cut down a cactus because certain cacti species are protected by Arizona state law.

[DubWolf 16,581]

It is illegal to milk another person’s cow. (No sense in making your cow jealous)

 

It is illegal for one to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.
 

You may not catch a fish by any body part except the mouth.

Dam, I was really hoping to use my harpoon on those fish!

[Nsxile 25,630]

The dumbest law I've ever come across was one that prohibits dying... I believe a town in Spain adopted it.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

In Florida, the vast majority of dumb laws are, ahem....sexual, according to the site linked in the OP. 

Other than that, the all public building doors are required to open outwards and the Florida 'accidentally' banned computers and phones from internet cafes, are the dumbest. 

[Anneal 2,194]

On a more serious note, a dumb law that is still in effect today are parking minimum codes. In many cities save for those restricted by geography or historical districts (Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Seattle), each new development or renovation is required to offer a certain amount of off-road parking spots per square footage, occupancy limit, or sometimes something as arbitrary as bowling alleys or tennis courts. Which tend to result in cities looked like this:

These kind of parking minimums are often far too generous and offer up too much parking space at the expense of severely limiting further urban development and walkability. Additionally, it is unattractive to look at and simply encourages people to drive more. In some cities, parking minimums are artificially reducing usable land and inducing housing crises on their own. Simply allowing more metered on-street parking and better transit options would greatly reduce the demand for off-street parking lots. 

[Philosoft 32]

 was born in ohio, so my dumb laws are ....

if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the speaker’s stand, you can be fined $25.

Women are prohibited from wearing patent leather shoes in public.

It is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday.

It is illegal to get a fish drunk.

The Ohio driver’s education manual states that you must honk the horn whenever you pass another car.

Participating or conducting a duel is prohibited.

Breast feeding is not allowed in public.

(Revised 2005)

Full text of the law.

It is illegal for more than five women to live in a house.

It is illegal to mistreat anything of great importance.

Full text of the law.

No civil arrests may be made on Sunday or on the Fourth of July

But my fav is specifically in my home of "Cincinnati"
"Anal intercorse is banned"