People In This Online Group Shared 40 Things That Are Illegal But Most People Don’t Even Know It
Did you ever stop and think that laws are made for people to follow, but most of us haven't actually read them? What is more, there is a whole profession dedicated to explaining laws and in order to become a lawyer, a judge, or a specialist in that field, you have to study it for several years. So it's no wonder that there are laws in our home country law systems that would surprise us.
Maybe Reddit user Krallorddark had a similar thought, because they asked, "What is illegal but most people don't even know it?" In less than 24 hours, the thread got over 50k upvotes and over 20k comments. People shared some really weird laws and some laws that actually make sense, but somehow people don't know about them.
What would you answer to Krallorddark's question? Leave it in the comments and don't forget to upvote the laws shared by people that surprised you the most!
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In Nevada there's an old law still on the books where a property owner may hang an individual who shoots a dog on their property.
Also you can't take your camel out on state highways.
YOU CANT TAKE YOUR CAMEL OUT ON STATE HIGHWAYS?! I bet that gives a lot of people the hump!
I'm french i will be glad to have the right to hang anybody hurting my animals. Instead we have an old law forbidding us to name our pigs "Napoleon" to protect Bonaparte feelings.
So George Orwell is a criminal in France?
Load More Replies..."a property owner may hang an individual who shoots a dog on their property." Not the worst law I've heard of.
wait really?! i've been illegally taking my camel out on state highways?! oh no.
Did you know that in Arkansas it’s illegal to push a live moose out of a moving aircraft? You had better get them moosies ready, pardner!
Way back when, they imported camels as an alternative to horses. It was sound reasoning. Camels are tougher than horses and can handle both the heat and lack of water much better. There are still wild camels in the US. Google is your friend.
Load More Replies...Then remind me never to move myself and my state highway-loving camel to Nevada.
It's an unwritten law in a lot of farm country. Someone else's dog on your property is a threat to your livestock. You can kill the dog without repercussions. We had a dog that killed a lot of geese. When the dog was shot by the farmer, it was tragic, but it was the dog owner's fault for not keeping the dog penned or leashed per state law. Those geese were the farmer's $$$.
Tickling someone without their consent is a form of assault. But yeah
You shouldnt be doing it to strangers, Id hit someone for doing that to me
Good. I hate being tickled. I will straight up throat punch someone.
100% agree. Does anyone enjoy being tickled. It makes me see red!
Load More Replies...It should be. Don't touch people who don't want you touching them. Especially children. Grooming them to accept unwanted touching is not a good lesson.
Thank you! Because yes, I was sexually abused as a child, and it actually did start with tickling. My idiot parents thought it was a form of play, and told me to stop complaining about it.
Load More Replies...If the person does not consent, it IS assault. Putting your hands on ANYONE who does not consent to be touched is assault.
good I hate it. I also can't stop laughing when people do it so it's hard to express to them my discomfort.
My brother wouldn't be able to live with that record... too many times...
Load More Replies...When I was young, I was so ticklish it was painful. Certain people thought it was funny to make me cry. It should have counted as child abuse.
My family also thought it was funny to see me involuntarily wet myself from tickling
Load More Replies...I once dislocated my sister's jaw when she tickled me. I was only 8 years old and she was 8 years older. She come up behind me and jabbed her fingers into my ribs and I jerked backwards and my head connected with her jaw and it dislocated and chipped a tooth. Pay back as she was constantly tickling me and I couldn't tickle her back as she's not ticklish.
Hmmm... I think i can understand this if it is for example a teacher tickling a pupil. In my work place if i pat a client on the back then i can lose my job as it is being personal and invasion of space.
Yesterday I learned that riding a bike while drunk is just as illegal as drunk driving, just not regularly enforced
Bicycles are vehicles under the law and are subject to the same fines as drivers. I LOVE it when the police in our neighborhood ticket cyclists for running stop signs. I actually watched a kid get hit by a bike in a crosswalk and end up with a broken arm and collarbone. When the police came, they arrested the cyclist. Yes. People did grab him and his bike so that he wouldn't get away.
This makes perfect sense when you think about it, a bike hitting you at speed can actually kill
Its true as this is not only a hazard to pedestrians but it is also an obstruction to drivers on the road that can lead to a bigger destruction.
It is also illegal to drive a golf cart, tractors, and lawn mowers! At least in the state I live in.
It takes much more skill to ride a bike drunk than drive a car. Trust me, I know.
Weird his many boating accidents seem to involve drinking and in many places it's ignored.
In my country suicide is considered a felony.
Its to allow first responders more ways to act. Like so a policeofficer can kick down a door or hospitals can force a short period of observation on a sucidal person, never any jailtime involved.
If you consider involuntary section "not jail time" you are wrong. In the UK, at least, you are held in a police cell for up to 72 hours depending on the availability of a psychiatrist.
A hospital please! Not a jail cell. Treatment not prosecution. They're ill, not criminals. If people try to commit suicide and that's what you do with them, speaking as one who has seriously thought about it more times than I can count it would be enough for me to make sure I did it right the first time.
Load More Replies...If you commit suicide twice, you may get life or a death penalty. We want know active felons here.
They are showing Cumbrian (UK) police - in the UK, under the Suicide Act 1961, it is NOT illegal to take your own life. The police will act if they think someone is at risk. Section 135 is used by police and healthcare professionals to go into your home even if you don’t want them to. They will do this if they are worried about your mental health.
The literal definition of suicide is self murder. Hence fratricide is murder of a sibling; regicide is murder of a royal person; patricide is murder of a parent. Time this label was changed.
If "my country" is illustrated by the British police image, NO. Suicide used to be illegal punishable by the death penalty!
The photo is UK but that this is not accurate for the UK. Under the Suicide Act 1961, it is not illegal to take your own life.
Load More Replies...What a backward way to solve a problem. Surely a duty of care should mitigate the actions of emergency services. That aside, like anyone who's suicidal honestly gives a crap about the possible legal ramifications. And if they succeed... what ya gonna do? Arrest the corpse?
Under a 1940s anti-poaching law, not only is possessing or selling a bald eagle illegal ... possessing any part of a bald eagle, including their feathers, is illegal.
Find a bald eagle feather while hiking? Technically, picking that thing up and sticking it in your pocket means a $250,000 fine.
Edit: As has been pointed out to me repeatedly, if you belong to a native American tribe that is enrolled in a federal program that exempts you from the above.
They actually are required to collect the feathers and turn them in to be distributed to tribes.
Load More Replies...This is true of all kinds of wild bird feathers actually. I was actually just thinking about that law this afternoon when my kids came in with a giant hawk feather. No one's going door to door looking for stray feathers though, so I'm not stressing over it.
We were warned not to pick up raven feathers in Alaska. They were fairly common to see on the ground, but oh well.
Load More Replies...Unless you are an Indigenous person using it for ceremonial purposes.
That is true.... NOW> but back in the day this law was used to confiscate Native regalia and try to stamp out our cultures.
Load More Replies...Only bald eagle and, depending on local law, a few others. It is intended to cut down on people making BS "ceremony gear" to sell to tourists.
Load More Replies...We had owls nest one year and Cooper's Hawks for many years (they always had the dumbest fledglings but that's another story). Needless to say we ended up with lots of feathers in our yard. Hated throwing all those beautiful feathers in the compost, but I also didn't want to be caught with them.
Load More Replies...Same law exists here in Australia, but for all birds I think. Learned that after I collected and framed an owl feather. :c
You can’t even touch a dead one, only Native American tribes can legally do it.
In Alaska it's illegal to whisper in someone's ear while they deer hunt.
This law is an ass! How does anyone know if someone is whispering in some ones ear? And if so, what is wrong with that?
It's also illegal to push a moose out of an airplane and illegal to feed alcoholic drinks to a moose.
Distracting to the wild life. Deer especially don't like people talk'n bout them.
It may have something to do with distracting the shooter ...the shooter may miss a humane kill shot and only injure the animal...causing unnecessary stress and pain.
Load More Replies...meanwhile, in the lower 48, they're drunk and whooping as they shoot at Bambi from 500m with their "not at all military-style" rifle. (Note: If you're that lousy a shot that you need a scope from a sniper's rifle? Stay out of the woods. PLEASE. Also, don't drink and shoot.)
but if they’re bear-hunting, you can whisper: “c’mon Frank, admit you’re not here for the hunting.”
Washing oil paint down the sink. It can contaminate drinking water.
As a painting and decorating tutor this is true. It has to be properly exposed of by taking it to the recycling center or passing it on as donations. This is also the same with white spirits/terps. If you are disposing spirits/terps always put it in a tightly sealed container and write the contents on the out side of it.
When a binman had his leg severely cut by broken glass in a bin I wrapped any glass in newspaper, then placed it in a bag outside the bin with GLASS written on. It was there weeks and they would not take it so I just shoved it in the bin and it went. Try to be a responsible citizen, waste of time.
Load More Replies...There's a lot of things we shouldn't put down the sink, including medicines, paint, oil and grease, dead things, etc.
If you have left over medications or found some old ones, take them to any pharmacy and they will dispose of them for you—at least in the U.S.
Load More Replies...That would probably be off brushes but I have just put unwanted paint on an old piece of plywood or cardboard and let it dry if I couldn't take it to the recycle.
And what do you do with those cardboards and plywood?
Load More Replies...True. Everything we put down the sink will contaminate some water supply if not treated. For those that are worried, perhaps you should start using your yard as a toilet.
Load More Replies...Washing oil paints with water is just stupid. Saved used brushes in zip loc bags for later use -- trust me, they will be fine. Get new brushes for new colours. It's that EASY!
Scottish here, it's a legal requirement to let a stranger use your toilet if he or she asks.
So if some random drunk comes to your door at stupid o'clock in the morning choking for a s***e, you better be letting them in
What would you do if a guy with a gun and a mask and a sack of money came barging in asking to take a poo?
Time to set up the one-seater little brown shack in the back. Half moon carved in the door. Sears catalog on a string hanging from a nail within reach of the seat. Nope, you ain’t coming’ inside my house to take a s**t. I got other accommodations for you.
That's a s***e law! But then why would you let a stranger in your house at all?
I've never been more glad that my front door is hidden from view of the street.......they're pretty rowdy by the time they spill out onto my street
most people in Scotland would help out a desperate stranger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6kZU5GJiME
One of my friends studied abroad in the UK (from the US) and didn't realize pepper spray is illegal there until a British student told her. Most female students at our university in the US carry it everywhere so it didn't even occur to her it would be illegal. No clue how she got through the airport with it in the first place but luckily she was able to dispose of it without getting in trouble
I have been told to declare it is an animal repellent and not for muggers/rapists and you are fine. (Germany)
Nope. That is totally false. If you are caught with PS here in the UK, you are defiantly getting nicked. One of my aunts was a night time cab driver and she used to have a can of hairspray under her seat incase of attacks. She got arrested and fined for that!
Load More Replies...I've never felt the need to carry something to defend myself in the UK, not more than a rape alarm anyway.
Load More Replies...If anyone in the UK needs an alternative to pepper spray, try Eveaid, totally legal here.
And hairspray! Apparently hurts like hell if you get it in your eyes.
Load More Replies...It is considered illegal in many countries and actually there was a case in my country where a girl used pepper spray against a pervert at the street and he took her to court!!! Yes she lost!😡😡😡😡😡
That is so sad. I never understood laws that protect criminals and punish victims.
Load More Replies...Was allowed and banned 2 years later in Denmark . The reason turns out it pretty smart to spray it in the eyes of the one you are robbing
In the UK, pepper spray is technically dealt with as possession firearm due to the mechanism in it - so you can very much get arrested and get into a lot of trouble.
In Canada its Bear spray and can only be used on animals. admitting you're using it on other humans is assault. All law enforcement has to be blasted by it during training and still expected to deal with a simulated attack while in pain and partially blinded. Regular people dont get to experience it, Bear spray is worse than what the police use because its made for wild large animals.
If I remember right. Regular pepper spray for protection is like 5% capsicum. Bear spray is like 20%. Either would be unpleasant.
Load More Replies...Yeah, defending yourself in the UK is kinda frowned upon. Assault a burglar or rapist breaking into your home and you're as likely to get convicted as they are, especially if your actions are "unprovoked" e.g. you snuck up behind them. So the fact that they broke into your home in the middle of the night apparently isn't much of a mitigation. How's that for justice?!
That is so sad. Sounds like criminals kind of have a free for all, and victims are damned if they do damned if they don't when it comes to protection.
Load More Replies...Also illegal in Hungary, considered an item highly hazardous to public security. But if your spray's volume is not more than 20g and does not contain capsaicin, you won't get fined if the police finds out you are carrying one. You just have to get rid of it anyway.
Walking down the street with an ice cream cone in your back pocket in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Apparently, there was a law that if a horse was on your property, you could claim it as your own. In comes the ice cream cone as a lure for the horse as you lead them to your property.....
Who walks with an ice cream cone in their back pocket? That's just insane
It is actually because back in the 1800s when people used donkeys for transportation they would put the ice cream cone in their back pocket and the donkeys would wleat the cone. They would also bite them. This is why it is illegal to put a ice cream cone in your back pocket. (But feel free to put the ice cream back there 😁😁)
Now I'm imagining someone putting chocolate ice cream there and it melting
Load More Replies...I’ve heard about the ice cream cone, it’s nice to finally get the explanation for the why.
Also, no joke, it is illegal to kill to Bigfoot, if spotted, in America
Wow. I’m gonna find Bigfoot. Not kill it, but not give it to the authorities. Is that illegal?
they're worried about mistaking and shooting campers! this is legit! please upvote so people can see that theres a good reason
u r correct there was many cases of ppl getting injured or killed due to hunting parties mistaking another hunter for a bear or something. so saying it illegal to hunt bigfoot means any human looking fuzz ball cant b shot at
Load More Replies...Given that the odds are high that it's a human in a costume, this feels reasonable
Oklahoma has a bill to establish a season and award you a prize if you capture Bigfoot. IT is mainly a tourism stunt.
Because you will probably be killing uncle Harry or aunt Tressa, by mistake because they were trick or treating in those Chewbacca suits.
Insulting the king of Thailand
Nope. Some people have been convicted for doing it online, then visiting the country.
Load More Replies...to make it worse, the current reigning monarch is such looney that the entire population must be holding it in like the Roman Centurion in the “Biggus Dickus” scene.
What's so funny about biggus dickus? He's got a wife you know. Incontinentia buttocks
Load More Replies...This was recently in the news. I'm not sure if they got the death penalty but if not, it was some other barbaric sentance.
Yes, his consort, (fancy word for mistress), I believe.
Load More Replies...The medals he is wearing is for each person that has been arrested for insulting him
I ran away from the country 'cause I couldn't stand the mess 'he' cause
Imagine how they can roast him when going on holiday outside of Thailand
In a few states in the US there are laws on the books barring atheists from holding public office.
Granted these fit into the "exist but don't really get enforced" category, but they exist nonetheless.
Some people seem to forget that bit. Which is annoying given how important that is to me (I'm christian btw). Church and state SHOULD ALWAYS be seperate.
Load More Replies...In the US a poll was done to ask who people would be willing to vote for president, based on trust. They started with things like a man, a woman, straight person, gay, Jew, Muslim, etc. etc. The type of person that scored the least of any category was atheist, with less than 10 percent of Americans willing to consider one for president. As an atheist, I find that so shocking.
I generally find Christians to hold more dispicable beliefs/ideals than any atheist I’ve ever known of.
People who hold despicable beliefs or ideals are not real christians.
Load More Replies...This is false. These laws were overturned well over 100 years ago in a Supreme Court case. They do not exist.
Just because you have your turn signals on dosen't mean that the you have the right to merge. If the lane isn't clear you are the one breaking the law.
And if you close up and don't let people merge, you may be legally right but you're an asshole.
This one is conditional, though. In bumper-to-bumper traffic once, a guy sidled down the breakdown lane to get ahead of others. My entire line refused to let him merge, since he was doing something illegal. The cop saw him, though, and waved him over for a ticket. Instant karma.
Load More Replies...Wait, people think that the indicator gives them priority? That explains a lot!
TBH, more of them try to do it even without turning their blinkers on first! Like the rest of us have our turbans on and can read your mind.
Load More Replies...What? We can't just ram the cars in lane next to us after turning on our blinkers? What tyranny! /s
Yes! If you're entering onto a highway, you do NOT have the right of way. YOU must yield to highway traffic.
True, that’s the rule. But if someone is trying to barge in front of me and it’s either slow down a bit or get in a wreck, I’ll choose to slow down a bit. It might technically be the other person’s fault, but my car would be wrecked all the same.
Load More Replies...Yes. It's about safety. Dont make the guy slam on his brakes so you can do that.
Driving consistently slower than the speed limit, without legitimate reason to do so (like road conditions or a vehicle problem). In fact, in some states, it is more points on your license than speeding.
Oh for the love of god please make this the law in England. Specifically Harrogate, North Yorkshire. As a net importer of the frail elderly, most of them drive cars faster than the hearse that will take them to their grave. It's not only a pain, but also dangerous.
I live in the UK and thought it was the law here, because of delaying other traffic and possibly causing an accident.
Load More Replies...In Canada, driving too slowly can get you a ticket for "creating a hazardous condition", or in some provinces, it's called "stunting" (which covers a lot more than that). My father got several tickets because he was a moron and a lousy driver and would come to almost a complete stop at every green light, because "it might turn yellow".
My mom got pulled over for speeding on the way to work. Driving on 401 (Canada). A couple of times in a very short period of time. Oh yes. First time a lead foot. Second like 5mph over during rush hour. So next time she sees the cops ahead. Well, for safety you're supposed to keep 6 car lengths behind the person in front. (You can get a ticket for tailgating over that) so 6 car lengths it is. Got pulled over for impeding traffic during rush hour. All tickets. Well, she decided she was marked. Drove a red car. Painted it silver and never got pegged there again.
Load More Replies...This was enforced (for a while) along the Pennsylvania Turnpike, during the time when the Governor worked in Harrisburg but lived 2 hours away in Philadelphia. The state law says "stay in the right lane, except when overtaking and passing" and State Police car escorting the Governor's limo was rumored to have issued several warnings for not clearing the left lane...
Because, by impeding the flow of traffic by driving too far under the speed limit—-and people tend to do this in the designated fast lane, which is reckless—-you’re an accident just waiting to happen. If you enter a freeway with a posted 65 mph speed limit, and proceed to drive 35 mph, other cars going the speed limit behind where you merge will not have enough braking time or distance, or an empty lane to move into, to avoid hitting you. You could cause a destructive, and potentially fatal, pileup and back other traffic up for miles and hours. I used to live in Los Angeles—-learned how to drive there, in fact—-and have sat in traffic that was essentially a parking lot because of accidents miles ahead of where I was. It’s why they post maximum AND minimum speed limits on the freeways. So believe me, you will get pulled over just as much for driving too slowly as too fast.
In rural Virginia, there is an epidemic of old folks who hate city folks and the way they rush around, and so unilaterally they invent speed limits and enforce them by driving in front of you and obstructing passing. Also, the legislature raised the speeding limit to 75 MPH without raising the definition of criminally reckless above 80 MPH, so driving a mere 5 MPH above the speed limit is "criminally reckless."
Stepping into a public fountain. Yes, Joey, Chandler, Ross, Pheobe, Rachel and Monica, I’m talking to you. Guess I’ll be there for you … in jail.
So their sentence could be a day, a week, a month, or even a yeeeaaar...
Load More Replies...Stepping??? I'm thinking this law probably has more to do with people bathing and/or using the fountain for recreation.
It originates out of vagrancy laws, where in the past homeless people would step into and bathe in fountains. The law makers figured that no one would have a reason to simply step into a fountain, so it's easier to just err on the side of caution and make that act illegal.
Load More Replies...But that scene in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita where Anita Ekberg walks through the Trevi Fountain is the very soul of the film.
Once I put some models in a fountain in Netherland for my fashion reportage of swimsuit, provoque a total trafic jam, and when the police arrived , I had to stop my session, happily I had the shoot I needed for the promotion.
In Florida its illegal to tie an alligator to a parking meter unless you pay for parking
Edit- Apparently it was passed for elephants because of discrimination against circus workers according to u/Carrotcake1988 and u/DaveTheNotecard
... so I can write whatever and you'll believe it without any hesitation.
Load More Replies...Ohhh. Got to be careful on that one. There could be investiGATORS watching you.
there is however a group who goes around untying them. They go by the name of Gator Aide
S**t. I can't believe I've managed to get away with this for so long. I had no idea it wasn't allowed. Ought to hand myself in...
If you hand yourself in, you'll need a gator-carer.
Load More Replies...Apparently it is illegal in New York to tether your giraffe to a lamp post.
I'd pay for that parking meter if someone can lend me their crocodile.
In the US giving any federal employee, especially postal workers, any gift in an amount over $20 each and no greater than $50 in a year. I believe the government wanted to try to ban any gifts, but people were so attached to their postal workers and wanted to give them something so they did relent, with those strict guidelines above.
This one bothered me because we had the most incredible mail lady (Betty) who has served us the past 8 years and this lady did her job under any and all circumstances. She braved the snow, the ice, the heat (with no AC in her truck) and even my evil dog who hated her with a passion.She was terrified of him but never failed to come ti the door anyway, trembling away. I wanted to gave her a gift of more than $20 the first Xmas and she returned it to me with a very sweet note. Once she informed me of the limit I gave her a $20 gift card on all the holidays I could and I wrote her a note telling her she was worth a million. She retired this year and she will be missed.
Yet Governmental persons accept millions in gifts on the side, it is the old "Do as I say not as I do"
I give my postal carrier homemade baked goods. No price tags, ergo, no worries :-)
It's illegal in my country too but i go with chocolates, they are trapped. Once i offer chocolate to a tax gov worker and she was like: "we can't accept anything" and i just told "come on, this is just chocolate" and she was trapped. Now my Cayman Islands accounts are fine! (just kidding she was just really nice to help me going through "the paperwork and administration from hell"). At the beginning of covid i left a chocolate tablet in my mailbox for the post worker and it disappeared.
License plate covers. I saw one yesterday that was tinted and you literally couldn’t read the plate even in broad daylight. But even clear ones are illegal (in Ohio anyway)
the only thing that surprises me is that it isn't enforced. i see covers all the time in chicago. then again, people routinely do 90+mph in a 55mph zone and the cops don't care about that either around here.
Load More Replies...A license plate cover? I didn't even know these exist. I guess it's not something we use in the tropics.
Nor in Australia, I don't really understand the purpose
Load More Replies...It's illegal because if you travel a toll road that has cameras to catch your license plate, it reflects off the plastic and the plate can't be read.
When we visited Canada in 2019-20, from Australia, my sister and I were surprised to find there were some provinces didn't require a front licence plate as well as a back one
In some states it is illegal to have those plastic frames around the outside of the plate too. Or to not have the front plate attached.
When I was in high school I knew a kid who had made a tiny flap that when he pushed a button it would cover the plate so he could go through toll ways and not get a ticket. A cop was driving behind him one day on the tollway and saw his “invention” and he got into a LOT a of trouble. It was such a big deal that they even had a assembly at school to talk about various laws and yada yada.
It’s illegal to die in the House of Parliament
I was lucky to do a tour of the Houses of Parliament and was told that if someone dies on the premises, they will be removed by paramedics/ambulance crew and be pronounced deceased once they have been taken off the premises, so that they technically haven't died in the houses of Parliament. Quite useful when the average age of the House of Lords is quite high!!
what happens if they air live on tv and someone dies of a sudden heart attack then they cant say they didnt die there cuz everyone watching saw it
Load More Replies...
The Salmon Act 1986 is an act of Parliament which outlines the difference between legal and illegal salmon fishery, among other things. The Act also makes it illegal to "handle salmon in suspicious circumstances"
My Dad was a poacher (we grew up really poor) rabbit and pheasant were treats when I was growing up. He never went after salmon, trout yes, salmon no.
I picture "suspicious circumstances" as something with white powder lines, alcohol, a wad of cash, a poker night, and the salmon wearing lipstick and a feather suit.
What counts as a suspicious circumstance? I am visualizing like a murder and a guy just holding a salmon nearby and immediately getting thrown in jail, it is kind of hilarious
Salmon may not wish to be handled in suspicious circumstances, they have feelings too 😁
Some may like it though and you really don’t want to get to know them. They are quite fishy. 🐟
Load More Replies...Please elaborate on "handling Salmon in a suspicious circumstance". What happened, when and why. Our four year old wants some answers.
I pictured someone putting salmon down their pants for some reason. What the hell is wrong with me?!
Carrying a permanent marker or other permanent-staining stationary is illegal in many countries under graffiti laws.
WOW! Understandable though but would spray paints apply to the same law?
Alot of writers use paint pens to do quick bombs. Fast, easy, and just as permanent.
Load More Replies...I believe those are dry erase markers in the photo, so you're gonna be okay
Gosh, I am a teacher and often carry them around with me, it is a wonder I have not been charged
How am I supposed to get them from the store to our warehouse, then?
Apparently hunting whales with a harpoon from your airplane in arkansas (this is legit)
It is also illegal to push your pet moose out of an airplane in alaska
Wait, what was your harpoon's line fixed to? The wall or the plane? I think both cases you'd end badly... If the wall, then shortly after takeoff.
Load More Replies...Hunting whales anywhere in the world should be illegal. But ya, landlocked?
This may be one of those laws introduced to the Legislature to prove they weren't reading bills, and the Lege proved them right.
In Australia recently there was a debate on whether fishing from a drone was legal. I think the decided it was at least not advised if not illegal
The failure to spend 2 hours a week practicing with a longbow.
This law was setup in the middle ages and it required ever male over the age of 14 to practice with a longbow every week.
The laws still in place but has been massively overlooked and forgotten.
That would probably be met with the defence of abrogation by disuse -- a legal defense to a law that has been unenforced for so long that it can no longer be applied / enforced.
Load More Replies...Because the UK had way too many laws & by laws, a long time ago the government introduced a new 'superseded by ratification' approach. If a new law is passed that contradicts or makes any other law obsolete, then it is considered so and the old law does not need to be formally repealed. The various weapons acts and organised armament regulations would have made this law obsolete a long time ago.
There is the famous case of a student killing a swan in the UK, that we learn about in civil law countries (mostly to show how absurd common law can be). It is illegal to kill swans in UK, but the last case of someone killing a swan was hundreds of years old, and then the culprit was sentenced to death. So in this new case, the students lawyer had to argue why he shouldn't be killed, even if the death penalty has been abolished in the UK.
Load More Replies...But what if you were a rather diminutive young man? I mean, longbows take height (otherwise they’d be called shortbows) and great strength, so it was only the really big and beefy fellows who were chosen to become longbowmen.
That's why you need the weekly practice. You have to work up to the 100 pound draw strength. (I think it was 100 pounds.) Then you have to keep practicing to stay able to draw the bow, never mind aiming the thing
Load More Replies...Who even makes a nice reliable long bow anymore? Why not a recurved bow on horseback?
in south carolina it's still illegal to dance or work on a sunday, of course this isn't enforced at all, but it still exists
Profiting from the photographs of Eiffel Tower taken at night.
NO WAY! Is it some kind of copy writing or something? How are they going to know if it is taken at night, printed on canvas and sold in other countries?
Yes, it's the light effects that are protected by copyright. If you are a professional you should ask for an authorization and probably pay some fees. The Iron Lady is a cash-machine, the society of the Eiffel Tower won't share their goose that lays golden eggs.
Load More Replies...It is not weird, there is a copy right. The people who created the twinkling night lights are considered artists who own this installation as a piece of art. The only reason you can profit from the image of the Eiffel Tower is because Eiffel himself gave up his copy rights.
The lore behind this one: Pictures of the Eiffel tower in the day are fine, because the tower is old enough that content about it is in the public domain for free use, BUT the lights on the Eiffel tower were added more recently, meaning that photos of the tower at night with the lights on, are illegal, because the lights aren't yet old enough to have entered into the public domain.
what if...you take a pic of it during the day, and then photoshop the night sky onto the back
that's fine.... it's the lights on the Eifel Tower that are copyrighted, not the tower itself
Load More Replies...It's because the lightshow itself is copyrighted like any other intellectual property. You can take photos but you can't sell it, just like how it's illegal to say record a movie and sell it.
In my home state of Tennessee, it's illegal to use a lasso to catch fish.
If you manage to catch a fish using a lasso, you deserve the fish!
Happy hours are illegal in Massachusetts
Smart, considering that happy hour is usually the same time as rush hour.
Well, we are always happy. Unlike other places, we don't need a special time for being happy -- kind of free for all -- rouge happy!
Also in Alaska, Indiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont.
You can give a friend or family member a lift for free, but if they have paid you, even fuel costs, then you are now an unlicensed taxi.
The rules for driving compensation are "gas, grass, or ass" they say nothing about currency.
We used to say 'Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free!'
Load More Replies...I suspect this varies a lot across nations/regions. It's courtesy to pay part of the gas when someone gives you a ride.
If you accept money and are in an accident, insurance may be voided.
Importing Kinder Surprise eggs to the US from your trip abroad. You won't go to jail, but if you are unlucky and the customs agent is not very lenient you can face a fine for every egg you tried to smuggle in.
According to some sources the fine per egg could go up to $2500, but I couldn't find a case where someone was actually fined that much. The most I could find in my 5 minute research was a Canadian woman who got fined $300 (Canadian) for trying to bring in one egg. I guess in most cases the customs agents will just confiscate the eggs and give you a warning.
Lol. Meanwhile in France we hide tiny ceramic figures in our epiphany cakes to make people choke on it or break their teeth. And when kids are involved we always manage to give the kids the choking hazard part of the cake as a kind gesture. We do know how to party! Some people died but we don't care and a lot of people collect the tiny figures who were in strangers mouths, that's an actual market.
Load More Replies...It is tragic that a country will ban chocolate with toys because of child safety, but will do nothing about guns that kills hundreds of children every year.
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Load More Replies...I had to sound off on this one. Kinder Eggs are NOT banned in the US because of a choking hazard. It has to do with The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 1938 that banned any " non-nutritive object" inside a consumable. A result of a drug company putting Ethylene glycol in cough syrup to make it taste better. The toy inside, (though I agree it is a technicality) unfortunately falls under non-nutritive. There is a video on Youtube "Today I found Out - Why are kinder Eggs Illegal in the USA?" It's really good and informative. I'm an American and I thought they were banned for the choking hazard too. By the by, went to Europe a few years back, and my youngest son and I bought as many as my wife would let us (heh-heh). We brought of toys home and build a display case for them for his room.
I guess I got lucky cause I brought around a dozen back from Canada to the US about 10 years ago & it was never even brought up by customs.
It's not allowed to mix chocolate and toys. but you could probably cover your rifle in chocolate O_o
Load More Replies...Its real. The kinder eggs sold in the US are different. No tiny toy inside.
Load More Replies...My dad was briefly a TSA agent and used this exact law to harass a grandma coming in from Germany to visit family in the US. He said he even threatened to put her on the "do not fly" list since she was criminally importing contraband. Laws like this give bullies an opportunity to hurt people, they need to be redacted.
Wow, how sad for your dad to feel good about harassing an old lady over a tiny chocolate egg. He must've really had some insecurities he was taking out on people with the Kinder egg law
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having stuff hanging from your rear view mirror.
This one I actually knew. It's a distraction and obstructs the field of view...
There was a police officer in NY State who ticketed people for having trees like those.
What? You mean those big pink fuzzy dice from the 70's have to go?
Let's all be aware that these laws are US state laws and often don't apply in other countries. In the Netherlands the police can pull you over and advice you yo remove the clutter from interior mirror, but if you refuse they have no way of forcing you. On the other hand, if you get involved in an accident due to all the clutter hanging from your mirror you can expect some hefty fines.
In most cars I have to duck to look under, or sit up straight and look over the rear view mirror to see when turning left (UK). Ducking is easier as most cars don't have the necessary headroom for me to sit up. I even look over the top of the windscreen in convertibles. I'm only 5 ft 7
There is a long list of over the counter medication you can legally purchase, but cannot take it into another country.
In supermarkets you are limited to 3 boxes of painkillers per person per transaction in the UK. There is nothing stopping you buying 20 boxes but in separate transactions.
It's to make it harder to commit suicide by drug over dose. As there were cases were people had taken paracetamol over doses and then changed their minds but organ damage was too far gone and they died
Load More Replies...I just typed in a really stupid question and was going to delete, but for some reason I'm always embarrassed by the "This Comment Has Been Deleted" sign. It feels as though I did something wrong.
There are no stupid questions. It's about perspective (& how some jerks answer just bc they know what you don't). Questions are how you learn. But I know what you mean about the "deleted comment" label, argh. Why doesn't it just vanish all together?
Load More Replies...Try having prescriptions. Customs will take your essential-to-live meds to "test", and if you're not lucky, you won't get it back. Tip: Always get paperwork from the doctor that they are necessary. The prescription bottle and your ID will *not* be enough. (And you may need to call a consulate to check if you need more.)
I had my medications and all the documentation with me when I went to Canada and even when I offered them up to be checked at customs they actually refused to check them which I found really weird after all the hype about being prepared.
Load More Replies...In the US Tylenol with codeine at any dose is illegal without a prescription. In Ontario you can by Tylenol #1 over the counter. Codeine 8mg per tablet. Not know that and take it to the US, you have a problem.
Exactly: over the counter in one country is not over the counter everywhere.
Load More Replies...You have to be really careful in the middle East in what medication you take into that country
Phenylephrine cold medications, for one. You need an ID to buy it and it gets logged on a database just to buy it, let alone get it over the border. To be fair, it is a drug precursor...
In my state (CT) it's illegal to sell pickles that don't bounce.
Drop from specified height they must bounce over a certain minimum height? Fingerprints must be able to make a depression over 1/8in that disappears (so neither hard nor squishy)? Maybe a special calibrated pickletester...
Load More Replies...Well, a pickle has to be firm to "bounce". So it does sound like a LOT more fun than a limp one 😏
Oh, there are soooo many jokes and innuendos, on soooo many levels, that could be made on this particular subject.
You must drop your pickles to see if they bounce before you sell them
Changing your own light bulbs; in Australia, the law says you must hire a licensed electrician to do it.
Tell that to electrician's unions. My employer goes to a couple of trade shows, and the convention centers want to charge you $100 to have a licensed electrician PLUG IN your cords for you.
Load More Replies...Sounds like a joke to me. How many Aussies does it take to change a lightbulb?
It's misinformation. This law hasn't been in place since 1998.
Load More Replies...You would think but my brother in law is an electrician and he has been called out to change light bulbs because some fittings are complicated.
Load More Replies...This law is false. It used to be in Victoria but that law was abolished in 1998.
Load More Replies...Now way back when, I’m sure no one knew how to change them newfangled electric lightbulbs safely anyway, so it was better to hire a professional to do it for you. Thing is, I think they’re safer now, and have been around long enough that we’re OK with lightbulb changing DIY.
You have to know how to play an accordion in North Korea to be able to teach.
No, just accordion, but pretend I said yes because it's funny.
Load More Replies...I feel like most things are impossible to teach if you don't know how to do them yourself, but especially musical instruments?
My theatre friend used to have a bumper sticker....."Play an accordion, go to jail."
Now it's you have to know how to play an accordion to get enough food to eat.
Chico, CA, it's a $500 fine to make or have a nuclear weapon within city limits "No person shall produce, test, maintain, or store within the city a nuclear weapon, component of a nuclear weapon, nuclear weapon delivery system, or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system under penalty of Chapter 9.60.030 of the Chico Municipal Code."
Well s**t. Where the hell else am I supposed to keep the damn thing if I live inside the city limits? (/s)
I wonder if it’s from the Radioactive Boy Scout, the story goes that he build a mini reactor in his garage using parts he found to be radioactive like old style smoke detectors and uranium lamps.
Chico isn't that far from the Livermore Nuclear Lab. Maybe they were afraid that the Chico State University students might try something...
Lemonade stands
You cant sell food to other people with out safe food handling, need a permit. Typhoid Mary caused a lot of death and damage from being immune to what she had and was a carrier not washing her hands.
ah yes, the biggest concern about buying from a lemonade stand...and here I thought I was just risking drinking too much sugar....
Load More Replies...Lemonade stands can be effective Karen Identifiers in your neighborhood
Truth! Because how dare kids try to do something productive!
Load More Replies...In Massachusetts, you can sell unprocessed foods without a license, like produce from your garden. But if you make your tomatoes and chiles into salsa, you need to be licensed and inspected by the health department. Which makes perfect sense.
Of course it does. Fruit and veg can be washed. Who knows what you're putting into your salsa. Even if it's just double-dipping your tasting spoon. Allergy and labelling considerations have to be taken into account also. There was a high-profile case in the UK a few years ago where a girl died from a stray sesame seed that got into her sandwich.
Load More Replies...The duck walked up to lemonade stand and he said to the man, running the stand "Hey!" Bum bum bum "You're under arrest."
Oh come on!!! What lemon come up with that? Parents educate your kids on the law before they get arrested. LOL
even if you want to sell popsicles from a bike cart now you need a food handling license
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In Texas, there is still a law on the books that it is a crime to carry bolt cutters around. It is a leftover from the days of cattle rustlers, when the bad guys would use bolt cutters to take down barbed wire fencing. Pretty sure it hasn't been prosecuted in a hundred years.
If you see someone riding around with bolt cutters its automatically for theft. You dont need those unless your in a Trade on a job site
Looks like he is ready to cut some fingers off!
Load More Replies...Oh, yes it has. In many states it is forbidden to carry any "tools of the trade" of any crime. I just posted above that I know someone who was busted for carrying a flashlight and a wrench.
You can go to Lowes and buy weed-killer off the shelf and use it on your property. You can use it on your parent's property. If you use it on your neighbor's property and he gives you $20, that's a felony.
Edit: Treating according to label instructions for friends and family without compensation does not qualify as a business activity most places. If you do this and receive compensation, then you're conducting business and under the law you should have a commercial applicator's licence. This is mostly an example of a badly- written law that is too open- ended. I don't know anyone who has got in any real legal trouble over an unlicensed jug of roundup, but they could.
This is actually based off of EPA regulations. It's a safety thing, but basically to get the applicator's license, you have to go to classes that teach you the side effects of exposure to it, how much to apply, and where you can, and can't use it, and proper disposal methods. People HAVE been fined pretty seriously for this in the past. Depending on what damage is done to the local ecosystem due to improper use, or disposal, you can be looking at fines reaching six or seven figures.
At least in MD though only one person in the business has to have a pesticide applicator's license. The rest of the employees then work under that one license.
Some poisons are used to make bombs, which is why it's open ended. Allows the powers to grab people.
In Ontario, the use of most common herbicides and pesticides were banned for cosmetic use by home gardeners in 2009.
The applicators license requires taking a class and passing a test. Here almost every FFA student has taken the class and the test and has qualified for the license., It's far more about safely handling and applying the spray.
Having a lobster of a certain size in your possession.
If it's too small that's pretty fair and should be a law in every country, they need to reproduce before turning into a delicious meal. I eat them but i don't want them to disappear because some idiots took young ones to make instant profit.
Remember in Seinfeld Kramer got in trouble for catching and eating lobsters
California Law stating that it is illegal to wash your neighbor’s car without their permission.
Also, in San Francisco and Long Beach here you cannot store anything other than an automobile in your garage.
Edit: This is no longer a law/ordinance in Long Beach anymore.
The SF one is for commercial structures only, but at one point it definitely was illegal to use your garage as anything other than a parking spot for your car. People could do stuff like rent out their garage, tax free.
Makes sense that u shouldn't mess with peoples stuff without their permission.
In the UK it is normal to fill you garage with junk and leave the car outside blocking roads
A garage has to be used primarily for a car. You can store other things too but if you don't use it primarily for a car you can be fined (Germany)
in italy is illegal to let go the water you washed car into drain. So it is not illegal wash your car if you collect dirty water and properly dispose...
Here in UK most houses store everything except the car in the garage.
If you’re living on someone’s garage, I bet they’re not going to be covered by rent control...
Unpasteurised cheese in the USA Also lawn darts in USA
It's amazing that my siblings and I are still alive after all those years playing Jarts. So many things that are extremely dangerous were legal when I was a kid.
Unpasteurized cheese IS permitted to be sold in the US, IF it's been aged 60 days or more. EVERYONE has banned lawn darts.
I have a couple of sets of lawn darts ;) and you can still buy "repair parts" for them online.
Load More Replies...But we’re not consistent across the country about how crispy we do or do not want it.
Load More Replies...Who was that actor in the 60s-70s who died from a lawn dart hit when he was distracted by a woman "flashing" him? Anyone remember? I saw it a few years ago, I think it was on "1,001 dumb ways to die".
Got a lawn dart in the back of my calf when I was a kid. My younger brother took his turn while I was retrieving my darts.
Whattagonnado? Can’t live with em, can’t kill em...
Load More Replies...That's because drunken idiots would end up stabbed on the head by a jart
Unpasteurized milk (aka "raw milk") is illegal in some US States. https://milk.procon.org/raw-milk-laws-state-by-state
Apparently changing lanes in the middle of an intersection is one that's unknown in my area.
Yeah, but as the OP says, no one seems to know that it's illegal. Meaning people do it all the time. Same here in Houston. No one cares, traffic laws on surface roads seem to be seldom enforced.
Load More Replies...i dont think thats unknown...they teach it in Driver's Ed, and it's in the dmv manuals...
So many people don't take drivers ed anymore.
Load More Replies...Can create mayhem for another driver busy on their phone or kissing their friend.
If you live in london. Your not alowed To shake the dust off your rug outside your house after 8 in the morning
Probably because of pedestrian traffic, people with asthma/dust allergies or on oxygen. Businesses open up around 9am (usually) and it can blow in the open doors and windows.
Load More Replies...I'm sure the people who are walking in the street below will be glad.
Contrary to popular belief its not legal to distill alcohol for personal use. Without a license its illegal period, including freeze distillation. Which is extremely dumb but so is the ATF. The only legal production of home use alcohol is beer and wine and it varies by state.
-Chemistry degree kicks in- The problem is that freezing concentrates BOTH the ethanol (good) along with the (bad) = methanol (go blind) and the propanol ('rubbing alcohol). A (proper) heat based distillation will give you ethanol (drinkable alcohol).
In the UK you can produce your own alcohol providing it is 'naturally fermented alcohol'. So pretty much the same.
Russia lets you moonshine for personal use. Stills are openly sold in the mall here
In Canada, there is a federal law on the books that requires all post offices to have a hitching post out front. Yes. I have seen many post offices (mostly rural) who DO comply with the law.
In some very rural areas, that hitching post just might get a fair bit of use.
Load More Replies...There are countless old and outdated laws that aren’t enforced, but just haven’t been taken off the books yet. Some of them make no sense today, yet others that didn’t make sense for decades suddenly do again in the right circumstances. We used to laugh at laws against spitting in public places. But those laws were put in place to protect people from communicable diseases that could be passed through that spittle. Though originally pertaining to diseases like tuberculosis, certain people’s more recent reactions to COVID restrictions have made those old anti-spitting laws make sense again. Unfortunately.
In the UK, it is legal for a pregnant woman to use a Police Constable's helmet to have a wee in.
In Austria, using your actual, legal, legitimate title of nobility or your real surname with its noble particle (de, von, zu, di...) is a crime. They even ticketed their own emperor for using his real surname : von Habsburg-Lothringen.
Under Dutch law.. If a burglar comes into your house, don't lock him up in your toilet. because then you rob him of his freedom. Natural areas may not be visited at sunrise and sunset . your in-laws will always remain your in-laws. even if you are separated from your partner. We need to pay taxes to have a dog. The more dogs, the more taxes. In the city of Rotterdam, its illegal when your dog barks. You can get fined 130 euros. In another city its illegal to look through/into someone else's window. So when you pass a house there, just look straight ahead of you.
In Canada, there is a federal law on the books that requires all post offices to have a hitching post out front. Yes. I have seen many post offices (mostly rural) who DO comply with the law.
In some very rural areas, that hitching post just might get a fair bit of use.
Load More Replies...There are countless old and outdated laws that aren’t enforced, but just haven’t been taken off the books yet. Some of them make no sense today, yet others that didn’t make sense for decades suddenly do again in the right circumstances. We used to laugh at laws against spitting in public places. But those laws were put in place to protect people from communicable diseases that could be passed through that spittle. Though originally pertaining to diseases like tuberculosis, certain people’s more recent reactions to COVID restrictions have made those old anti-spitting laws make sense again. Unfortunately.
In the UK, it is legal for a pregnant woman to use a Police Constable's helmet to have a wee in.
In Austria, using your actual, legal, legitimate title of nobility or your real surname with its noble particle (de, von, zu, di...) is a crime. They even ticketed their own emperor for using his real surname : von Habsburg-Lothringen.
Under Dutch law.. If a burglar comes into your house, don't lock him up in your toilet. because then you rob him of his freedom. Natural areas may not be visited at sunrise and sunset . your in-laws will always remain your in-laws. even if you are separated from your partner. We need to pay taxes to have a dog. The more dogs, the more taxes. In the city of Rotterdam, its illegal when your dog barks. You can get fined 130 euros. In another city its illegal to look through/into someone else's window. So when you pass a house there, just look straight ahead of you.
