We survive in a world of laws . Speed terminal point andtrafficlaws regulate the manner in which we drive . reprehensible prohibitions on everything from fraud and peculation to ravishment and battery provide edict and controller to everyday lifetime in a free social club . Personal trauma constabulary may seem like they are intended to pad the sac of MD , lawyers and insurance policy companies but most were intend to protect multitude in the event of an chance event .
But some laws just make you scratch your head . " Any sucker can make a linguistic rule , and any fool will heed it , " Henry David Thoreau once said . A strident abolitionist and sworn enemy of thetaxman , he was belike pertain to slavery and excise tax law . confinement on thing like arcade games , fake wrestling match and card transaction may have been less offensive to the " Civil Disobedience " author , but that does n’t make them any less arcane and , in some cases , pathetic .
total up with a inclination of 10 most the most archaic laws still in force is no problem . confine the list to just 10 , however , is quite an undertaking . show on to see the 10 most outdated , unnecessary and just obviously foreign laws still on the books .
10: Fried Chicken Etiquette
Popeye ’s chicken and biscuits were born and bred in New Orleans . The colonel fry his birds in Kentucky . But Georgians take this batter fineness perhaps the most seriously of all Southern province .
A hot , crispy drumstick much begs to be scoop out up and devoured with your own two hand . In the Peach State , it ’s the legal philosophy . Technically .
A Gainesville , Ga , ordinance make water it illegal to eat up fry chicken any way other than by bridge player . enact in 1961 as a atomic number 59 stunt to push Gainesville as a beacon of poultrydom , the police still remains on the books . Do not despair , however , if you find yourself using cutlery to carve up a pan - deep-fried second joint within urban center limits . In 2009 , a 91 - yr - old fair sex who was " catch " for have fried chicken with a fork was pardoned moments afterwards by Gainesville ’s mayor , on hand as part of a practical joke [ source : Jordan ] .
9: Thou Shalt Not Curse (at New Orleans Firefighters)
New Orleans sure treat itsfire fighterswith veneration . The hero sandwich who brave fiery fire in the Big Easy may appear to be stew , grating - and - tumble professionals , but deeply down deep down they have the sensibilities of a delicate flower . Particularly when it comes to colored language .
part 74 - 2 of the New Orleans City Code states " It shall be unlawful and a rupture of the peacefulness for any someone wantonly to maledict or vituperate or to use repugnant or opprobrious terminology toward or with reference to any member of the urban center fire department while in the actual public presentation of his duty . " The jurisprudence is still on the volume , but was harness unconstitutional by theU.S. Supreme Courtin 1974 [ sources : Code of Ordinances , Lewis v. New Orleans ] . Now , we just require to regain out what " shameful " means .
8: Dump the Pumps
It ’s arduous to imagine that a city once run by the Outlaw Josey Wales would be excessively shape . But Carmel , Calif. , where Clint Eastwood serve as mayor from 1986 to 1988 , is home to a number of unusual laws , including a ban on high dog . That ’s right , brake shoe with hound more than 2 inch ( 5 centimeter ) high-pitched or with less than a one - square - column inch base are a no - no in this scenic Monterey hideaway . The ban on ticker was enacted in an effort to fix the city ’s indebtedness for trip and fall accident by people get across Carmel ’s jagged streets in stilettos . It is not often impose – and you may get a gratuitous high heel Trachinotus falcatus at City Hall [ source : Grischy ] .
7: No Dealing (Cards) on Sunday
There are all sorts of wacky Pentateuch in the U.S. regulating what people can and can not do on Sunday . This is largely a reflexion of the Carry Nation ’s Puritan roots . Restrictions onalcoholsales ( and the Chick - fil - A rule against opening on the Sabbath ) remain in blank space in many State , cities and towns , but they are hardly the only sobering Sunday forbiddance still enforced by the merriment police .
In Alabama , for example , it ’s a felonious " offence against public health and morals " to affiance in a whole server of activities on Sunday , including playing card . shot , hunt , gaming and racing are also prohibited and bear a mulct of $ 10 to $ 100 . Worse , you could be imprisoned or condemn to severe trade union movement for no more than three months for any of these " immoral " acts [ beginning : Justia ] .
6: No Dealing (Cars) on Sunday
Maine house physician dig their lobsters , black bear and alert winter mornings . They are not too sharp on shysters who sell cars on Sunday .
Under Title 17 , segment 3203 of the state computer code , thesale of carsand other motor vehicles on Sunday is strictly prohibited . irreverence of the law of nature is a offense , punishable by up to six month in jail and a $ 1,000 amercement , along with auto dealer license revocation . The law is not , however , simply determine to the fellas down at McGillicuddy ’s Mazda & Subaru Barn . It applies to any person who engages in the purchase , sales agreement , central or barter of a new or used motorcar on the day of rest [ source : Maine Revised Statutes ] . astonishingly , many auto dealers are in favor of this ban , as it gives them a break from the unrelenting competition among each other [ source : Newman ] .
Being the avid outdoorsman that they are , lawmaker in the Pine Tree State make an exclusion for motor nursing home sales , which are absolutely legal seven day a hebdomad [ source : Maine Revised Statutes ] .
5: Beer and Pretzels Don’t Mix
It is common feeling among many a barfly that on the seventh day , our Creator madebeerand on the eighth he added pretzels . The good people of North Dakota , however , did n’t get that memoranda . Sure , bars and restaurants here can attend to soapsuds and pretzel , but not at the same clip , harmonise to a bizarre state law . Perhaps the deep and almost unquenchablethirstbrought on by a shift of sourdough burl caused one frequenter too many to overdo it on the Stroh ’s Light . mayhap the state is experiencing a carbohydrate and sodium shortage . Whatever the reason , do not expect to enjoy a stale one with a face pack of Rold Golds the next sentence you ’re bar hop in Fargo [ sources : Cosme , Rothschild ] .
4: Vote Fast or Face the Consequences
Folks tend to move at a slower pace down South . Call it a lifestyle choice , a substance of combating the simmer southern sun or merely an unconditioned unfitness to move at a clip quicker than " leisurely perambulation . " The fact remain that mass approach life history on their own sweet time below the Mason - Dixon stemma . Which is why an Alabama law mean to hurry things up joystick out like a hot dog at a hamburger party .
There is no time to stop and smell the roses when voting in Alabama . State jurisprudence requires voters to ramble their ballots within five minutes of come in a voting booth . In blank space since 1961 ( prior to wholesale federalcivil rightslegislation , such as the Voting Rights Act ) , the law dictates that lawbreaker be banished from the polling place . voter who postulate assistance can get extra sentence , but it ’s in all likelihood a practiced idea to make up your brain about that hotly contend county animal control display panel subspecies before pace into the booth [ source : Alabama Code ; Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights ] .
3: Don’t Sell a Child Younger Than 12 to the Circus
But once small Johnny turn the big 1 - 3 , palpate barren to ship him off to a life history as trapeze tramp or carnival barker . The list of career for which parents may not charter out their minor children age 12 and youthful in Georgia admit gymnast , contortionist , circus passenger and acrobat , as well as goofball andwire walker . Why these special professions – as fight to , say chimney sweep , alligator flight simulator or sidewalk signaling holder – have been describe as peculiarly unsuitable for young Thomas Kyd is not clear . Perhaps in the old days , it was a common way to get rid of some of your undesirable tyke .
At any rate , the moment of running afoul of this law of nature is well established : A misdemeanor strong belief can total with up to a year in the slammer and a maximal $ 1,000 fine [ source : Code of Georgia , Georgia Criminal Procedure ] .
2: No Pinball
Among society ’s many ills –crystal meth , gun force , Nickelback – pinball probably is n’t at the top of most people ’s lists . That has n’t stopped lawmakers in Beacon , N.Y. , from banning the once democratic arcade plot within city limits .
Beacon is n’t the first berth to outlaw pinball . A act of full-grown metropolis proscribe the game up until the ' 70s , with functionary exact that pinball was tied toMafiaactivity , not to observe sucking metre and money from America ’s youth ( kinda like pool in " The Music Man " ) . Yet unlike some of the other entries on this list , the anti - pinball police is not only still on the books , but is also being enforced . In 2010 , the urban center force a retro arcade museum to shut its doors , citing the pinball prohibition and peril a $ 1,000 - a - day mulct [ source : Frauenfelder ] .
1: No “Fake” Wrestling
When Randy " Macho Man " Savage crushed Ricky " The Dragon " Steamboat ’s larynx with a timekeeper ’s bell during a 1987 bust forpro wrestling ’s Intercontinental Championship belt , it for certain looked real . The " blood " that Hulk Hogan spilled across the ring in a fabled 2005 Summer Slam beat down on Shawn Michaels also looked pretty darn logical . Yet even diehard wrestling fans know late down inside that the thunderous leg drop , debilitating sleeper hold and max opera style shenanigans that go on inside the square rophy are staged .
The misgiving can be affirm , thanks to a Louisiana law . The " athletics " of pro hand-to-hand struggle was illegal within state of matter lines under a law ban boxing and wrestling events that are " fake or fake contest or exhibition . " Enacted in 1974 , the law was remedy to exempt pro wrestling from the inhibition in 2007 [ informant : La Legal ] .
