It’s The Law, Maaaan

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, education, History, Humour, Law and justice, Social commentary

I was working on a post for today … a rather dark post, as it were, for Black History Month … and I came across something that pulled me (temporarily) out of the rabbit hole I was in and made me chuckle.  So, I will finish that post for later today, but meanwhile I think we could all use a bit of mid-week humour!

Understandably, many of the laws from centuries past don’t make much sense today, though no doubt there was some logic behind them back in the day.  But today, they are just funny as heck and most often not enforced but remain on the books anyway.  For instance, in North Dakota, by law, bars and restaurants cannot serve beer and pretzels at the same time!  And in Hartford, Connecticut, it’s against the law to educate dogs! No obedience school for Fido there!

Some of the laws are just common sense … perhaps common sense is lacking in Alabama where it’s illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket!  I can honestly say that in my 70+ years on this earth, I have never ever put an ice cream cone in my back pocket nor even been tempted to!  In California, it is against the law to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool, and in Hawaii you are breaking the law if you put coins in your ears.

In Wisconsin, it is illegal for restaurants to serve apple pie without cheese on top … yuck … remind me never to order apple pie if I ever go to Wisconsin!

Florida as well as some other states have laws that are directed toward women, such as the one that makes it a chargeable offense for a woman to fall asleep under the hairdryer at a beauty salon, or the one that makes it illegal for unmarried women to parachute on Sundays!  Why only ‘unmarried’ women, I wonder?  Do they have a shortage of potential wife material there? But then in Michigan, by law women must check with their husband before heading to the hair stylist because a woman’s hair belongs to her spouse and she needs his permission before she can alter it.  I certainly hope that one is not enforced!!!  Sheesh!

Pittsburgh has a special cleaning ordinance on the books that bans housewives from hiding dirt under their rugs, and in Memphis, Tennessee, women can’t drive a car unless there is a man with a red flag in front of the car warning the other people on the road.  🙄  I better not hear one snide remark about women drivers!  And in Wisconsin, it is against the law to force anybody to get a microchip implanted.  WHAT??? Only in Wisconsin?  I would think that … oh heck, never mind what I think!

Our friend Keith better be careful, because …

Take a look at some of the other odd & funny laws that, while utterly ridiculous, are still on the books …

Say WHAT??? Why would anybody …

Oh right … and how many have ever actually followed this law???

I must say that perhaps instead of all the infighting, promoting conspiracy theories, and being bigoted obstructionist bullies, lawmakers might do well to clean up the lawbooks in their states … but then we wouldn’t be able to laugh about those defunct laws!

I hope you found a chuckle or two here this morning … I’ll be back later with a more serious post.

59 thoughts on “It’s The Law, Maaaan”

  2. Gee, I wished I could have worked in the Department of Rabbit permits in Wyoming. It would have been so much fun interviewing people:
    ‘Yes sir. But look at it this way. Would you care for someone to take a photo of you uninvited?’
    ‘Actually ma’m. This is a safety clause. Whereas it is fair enough for folk to take pictures of animals, state records show the volatility of the weather between January and April can pose a risk to a person’s life. Y’know you might be out there, on a genuine sunny day, just waiting for that rabbit to appear and then in from the west comes a harsh weather front. We like folk to therefore be prepared’…..

    …..Meanwhile in Paulding Ohio, the desk sergeant is on the phone….
    ‘Well, yeah Frank, I know you’re covered by the law, but you gotta consider the department’s public image there fellah. Getting down on your hands and knees and growling at the mutt, I have to give you points for getting into character, and the nip on the ear was good minimum force, but cocking your leg up on the fence afterwards….I mean y’know it wasn’t even the owner’s fence,’

    At a pawn shop in New York….

    ‘I tell ya Francie…I’ve just about haddit up ta year! I’m justa ’bout closin’ shop, when dis shmuck comes in an’ says he wants to sell his eyeballs. I says I don’t buy ’em fellah. He says I’m infringing his civil rights, ’cause he wants to sell ’em. No I dunno know why. Do I look like a shrink already? An’ get dis, he calls da cops on me. Dats why I’m late, sortin’ dat out…Yeah..yeah..Dey took ‘im away. But that’s da limit. I tell ya…..We’re movin’ to Texas, I know dey talk funny, but I’ll have da law on moi side!’

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  3. “An orderly society cannot exist if every man may decide which laws he will obey.” – Lewis F. Powell Jr. (1907-1998). You most likely will recall that Powell was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from Jan. 1972 until his retirement in June 1987. Powell is remembered for his distinguished, though reluctantly undertaken, career as an Associate Justice. Without any intention of demeaning the eminent Justice Powell…it amuses me to use this quote in conjunction with your amusing post! WHAK!! Thank-you!

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    • You give my memory far more credit than it deserves, dear Ellen!!! That said, the quote is certainly apt, more so today than it likely was in Powell’s day! I used to tell people that I obey all laws — as long as they make sense. I’m probably still that way! WHAK!!!

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  4. Pingback: IT’S THE LAW, MAAAAN. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  8. Is this the chief of police? Yes, who is asking?
    Well, I am calling to inform you, as is required by law, of my intention to come and steal from the police station. I am just now entering the city limits.
    I expect no further action from you or your officers.

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    • Makes me wonder if there is a big sign at the state line that reads: Welcome to the State of Washington! If you plan to commit a crime, you must first contact the local police department. For the number, call xxx-9999!

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  12. These are so crazy. Can you imagine the humorless ones though? Hey, and who knows? Maybe someday our progeny will dig up an old law that says “Illegal to attempt flushing federal secret documents in the White House while eating a Big Mac and tweeting lies.. naked!” 😂😂😂

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  13. Love these! There are sooo many crazy laws out there that you have to wonder how they ever became a law in the first place!! We have a board game about them, but of course I can’t think of any right now. Only one comes to mind.
    In Virginia its illegal to tickle your wife.. My husband would be in so much trouble! LOL!
    Thanks for the laughs! 😂

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  14. I cannot remember where, but there is a law somewhere about bedroom police. They were allowed to enter private bedrooms to ensure the man was on top of the woman in the missionary position. Any other position was illegal! We used to have a radio show that dug up obscure laws like this. That was most memorable. Good post, Jill. It illustrates how idiotic lawmakers were back then, and sort of explains why they can make the idiotic laws they do today.
    Not a good law, but during my social work education we learned some country in Africa had a law a man had to beat his wife every Friday night, no cause needed. Men could go to jail if they were found to not do this. Not all stupid laws are funny, nor are they in the past. As far as I know, this law pertains to this day.

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      • Sorry, I cannot tell you. Or maybe it was just a story told by a wife-beater arrested in Canada shortly after immigrating here. Maybe he told the police this story to try to excuse himself from punishment. But when they say truth is stranger than fiction, that seems to apply here. We had to work with his wife and children while he was in jail, and none of them said he was lying. I am willing to listen to other truths, because that one upset us greatly..

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    • I vaguely remember hearing about that law — I’m thinking it was in one of the New England states. I suspect that some of today’s laws will seem just as idiotic to people 100 years from now!

      I Googled and found nothing about such a law in any of the African countries, but interestingly I did find that it was only as recently as 1920 that wife-beating became illegal in all 50 states!

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    • Maybe not just in the past! Imagine how, in 100 years or so, people may be laughing over the laws we enact today! Yes, in some states I’d be afraid to even breathe the air! xx

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