Legal statutes are products of their time and people, but as time marches on and people grow, some certain legal statutes start to seen rather… odd. Here are a few laws that at some point in time made sense, but now may need to be scratched off their respective books.
Regarding Our Animal Friends
In Alaska, it’s illegal to push a live moose out of an airplane. Such a law seems to imply that at one point in time, Alaskans were really suffering from an absurd number of moose falling from the skies. In Illinois, there’s a legal statute forbidding people from giving their dogs whiskey, which seems to imply a similar story. In Minnesota, a person with a duck on his or her head may not cross state lines. Perhaps this law was to prevent any unfortunate hunting accidents, but then again, why would anyone want a duck on his or her head?
Regarding the Lovely Ladies in Our Lives
Many a legal statute or two in the early 19th and 20th Centuries were passed to defend the honor and reputations of women. In Cleveland, Ohio, a city ordinance forbade women from wearing patent shoes while in public because such attire might inadvertently give nearby fellas a peep show. Meanwhile in Florida, women are forbade from parachuting on Sundays. If you’re in Dennison, Texas, or in Bristol, Tennessee, then make sure your stockings are on just right, because adjusting them in public could lead to a year long jail sentence!
Regarding Church on Sunday
Legal statutes created to prohibit people from acting a certain way or doing a certain thing on Sunday, or “the Lord’s day,” are called Blue laws. Though largely unenforced, many of these blue laws still exist on the books today, like in Salem, West Virginia, where it’s illegal to have any candy an hour and a half before religious services. Similar laws regarding ice cream and pie are still in place in Winona Lake, Wisconsin, and Kansas, respectively.
Whether you want to figure out what the purpose of a zany law is, or if you’d like to know more about a legislative news piece, you can always get help from a legislative intent service, which can do your legal research for you. Of course, most people are content to just shake their heads at these oddball legal statutes.