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%)
False teeth Other bizarre foreign laws voted by those polled included:
In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%) In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)
A male doctor in Bahrain can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)
In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)
It is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle in Alabama (6%)
In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)
Women in Vermont must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth(6%)
In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits (5%)
In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%)
1 Comment
November 7, 2007 at 8:08 am
There’s an interesting discussion going on about this on the uk.legal newsgroup right now. Many of these are known to be myths – the pregnant woman/policeman’s helmet one for a start. And some of them haven’t been valid for hundreds of years, like the mince-pies one (because it was brought in by Cromwell). The first one, about dying in the Houses of Parliament, they say applies to *certification* – that is, you’re not legally dead until certified, and it’s not legal to *certify* in the HoP. Seems whoever created the list didn’t really do much research. #7 and #9 appear to be right though!