Dumb laws

Dumb laws, also called weird laws, strange laws, futile laws, or unnecessary laws, are laws that are perceived to be useless, humorous or obsolete, i.e. no longer applicable (in regard to current culture or modern law). A number of books and websites purport to list dumb laws. These are in many cases based on misunderstandings, exaggerations or outright fabrications.

Reports of "dumb laws"

Laws presented as "dumb laws" are laws that are perceived by the speaker to be useless, no longer applicable (in regard to current culture or modern law), or humorous. There are relatively few real "dumb laws" on the books, but a large number of hoax or exaggerated dumb laws are circulated on the internet and in the print media.^[1]

Several books have been written and numerous websites exist on the internet purporting to list "dumb laws" in various jurisdictions (see "External links" section). The "dumb laws" are also often circulated via e-mail chain letters. However, two books, You May Not Tie an Alligator to a Fire Hydrant: 101 Real Dumb Laws and The Book of Strange Laws and Curious Legal Oddities, appear to have been vetted for accuracy.

Characteristics

Common characteristics of these laws are prohibitions against seemingly benign behaviors (for example it is claimed that in California "bathhouses are against the law" ^[2]) or prohibitions against acts that one is realistically unlikely to carry out (such as an Arizona law prohibiting hunting camels, while camels are not native to North America^[3]). However, a closer examination may reveal a sensible reason for such laws: California only bans bathhouses that encourage sex, in order to prevent the spread of AIDS;^[4] and the Arizona law was designed to deal with aftereffects of the United States Camel Corps, an army experiment to use camels as a military animal in the desert southwest of the United States.^[5]

Reasons for the existence of lists of "dumb laws"

There are two main reasons that references to false or inaccurate laws may persist:

1) exaggeration or misinterpretation of real provisions of law, and 2) common law cases

(1) Some of the purported "dumb laws" have no basis in reality, or are an exaggeration of real laws. For example, a reasonable law about the preservation of rare cactus species ^[6] may be presented as humorous statement that "There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus.".^[7] The minor phenomenon's popularity is attested to by existing websites that generate the "dumb laws" at random.^[8]

(2) Reports about 'dumb' laws often originate from case rulings issued in common law countries. The reason is that the court decision on a particular case may, for example, state that a dog-owner has to pay damages to his neighbors because his dog keeps barking at night and repeatedly disrupts their sleep. When taken out of the context, the 'dumb law' appears: "Dogs may not bark after 6 PM". Since in common law systems decisions of certain courts become precedents, such ruling is formally also included in the legal system and is considered a source of law.

Examples

• That "sorority houses are illegal since more than a certain number of single females living together constitutes a brothel" has been debunked as fake.^[9]
• It has been reported that it is legal to shoot a Welsh person all day on a Sunday, with a longbow in the Cathedral Close, Hereford.^[10] - the Law Commission have confirmed that this is not the case.^[11]
• Alfred the Great's law code really did contain the law, 'If a man unintentionally kills another man by letting a tree fall on him, the tree shall be given to the kinsmen of the slain' ^[12]
• The state of Vermont has passed an act regulating how the state pie, apple pie should be served.^[13]

References

External links

• Dumb Laws
• Stupid Laws
• Dumb Laws and Stupid Laws
• Weird laws
• Miglani, Sanjeev (7 October 2014). "India wields the axe on Her Majesty's "laughable" laws". Reuters. New Delhi, India. 
• Spooner, Samantha (15 October 2014). "From hippie bans to broomstick flying limits, here are Africa's most absurd laws". Mail & Guardian Africa.