Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Mad laws
My attention has been drawn by Jonathan Calder to an article on the BBC website listing some of Britain's most ludicrous laws. It is worth repeating the top ten, if only for their novelty value. They have been voted for by a panel of 3,931 people set up by UK Gold and the percentages indicate how absurd that group found them. It is hoped that the Welsh Assembly does not add to them but I cannot say that with any confidence for the future.
The UK's top 10 most ridiculous British laws were listed as:
1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down (7%)
3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)
4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned (5%)
5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter (4%)
6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)
8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour (3%)
10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)
The UK's top 10 most ridiculous British laws were listed as:
1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down (7%)
3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)
4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned (5%)
5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter (4%)
6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)
8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour (3%)
10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)
Comments:
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But in Chester you can only shoot a Welsh person with a bow and arrow inside the city walls and after midnight.
I wonder how many of these laws actually still exist ?
QI a few weeks ago busted the myth that you could still be executed for treason and committing arson in the royal dockyards. That was repealed in the 1980s and then signing up to European human rights finished it off.
I've broken the stamp law. Not the mince pie law though, I don't like mince pies.
I wonder how many of these laws actually still exist ?
QI a few weeks ago busted the myth that you could still be executed for treason and committing arson in the royal dockyards. That was repealed in the 1980s and then signing up to European human rights finished it off.
I've broken the stamp law. Not the mince pie law though, I don't like mince pies.
UPDATE: Apparently the law about shhoting a Welshman in Chester was repealed. So it's just Scotsmen and York then ;-)
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