Did you know that Ancient Egyptian law, which dates as far back as 3000 BCE, had civil codes that were likely broken into 12 books, and were based on the concepts of tradition, rhetorical speech, social equality, and impartiality? Legal history -- the study of the history of laws and how they've evolved over time -- dates much farther back than most people think, and includes concepts and legal statutes that would surprise most people. Here are a few of the most surprising finds our legislative history research was able to dig up. The Ancient Celts Protected Animals' Rights. According to an ancient Celtic legal statute, it is illegal ... Read More >

There are three reasons why many attorneys often use legislative intent services. First, it's because legislative history research can often be an exhaustive, laborious process. Second, many legal statutes use Legal English, which is tough to understand, and just about impossible for the everyday citizen to comprehend, because of its unusual phrasing and lack of punctuation. Thirdly, it's because many of those hard-to-understand legal statutes seem to lack any semblance of legislative intent. To get a better idea of just how strange U.S. law books can be, take a look at some of the medical laws doctors have to follow. Here are a just a few ... Read More >

Most people in the United States don't need to dig in and do a whole ton of law research to know that they're supposed to wear pants and other clothes in public. What might surprise you, though, is that there are tons of legal statutes out there whose legislative intent is to let you roam the Earth in your birthday suit (or to ensure you're not, either). Here are a few surprising nudity legal statutes our legislative history research was able to turn up! You Can Hike in Los Angeles Naked. Yep. Los Angeles, the City of Angels, has a legal statute allowing anyone to go hiking totally in the buff if they want to. If you do decide to check ... Read More >

Any legal professional who's ever done even the smallest amount of law research has more than likely encountered a legal statute or two that seems devoid of any legislative intent at all. Unbelievably, the U.S. legal system is rife with laws that seem to lack any purpose, and perhaps most baffling of all, these laws are still on the books today. To help give you a better idea of just how many of these weird laws there are and how silly they can be, here are a few examples. Felons Cannot Conduct Games of Bingo. Bensalem, Pennsylvania takes its Bingo so seriously that it has a law whose legislative intent is to ban people convicted of a ... Read More >

Humans aren't the only ones who have to follow the rules. It doesn't take much legislative history research to turn up an animal law or two, but if you keep at it long enough, your law research will eventually yield some pretty weird legal statutes. Here are just a few strange laws that'll make you laugh harder than a hyena. Wait, You Can't Go Into the Dog Park Without Wearing a What? When writing a legal statute, getting the language and rhetoric right can be a little tricky. Legal English is a dialect that's often used when writing laws to have a dramatic effect. It often has an unusual word order, as its grammatical structures are ... Read More >

About 20% of all civil lawsuits in the U.S. have to do with automobile accidents. Every day, people get speeding tickets, have fender benders, or break traffic laws in a myriad of other ways -- some of which may be stranger than you'd think. Here are some of the weirdest traffic laws our legislative history research dug up. Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road in Quitman, Georgia? It didn't. In Quitman, Georgia, there's a legal statute that forbids chickens from crossing the road. Whether that law was created by a legislator who was sick and tired of hearing that particular joke or if it was created to keep lackadaisical farmers-in line is ... Read More >

Let's be honest for a minute. Tons of old, legal statutes are pretty difficult to understand. They're written in a dialect of English known as Legalese, which uses complicated jargon stemming from Latin and often lacks punctuation. However, what makes these legal statutes most baffling is their seeming lack of legislative intent. Though they might have made sense in the past, the issues they were created to rectify are no longer problematic to our society, and so these archaic legal statutes remain on the books as quirky old relics. What's interesting about these laws is how governments deal with them. Some simply ignore them, some ... Read More >

Did you know that in Russia it's illegal to have a dirty car? Or that in France, every driver must legally carry a personal breathalyzer in their vehicle? Or how about the fact that in Japan, you can get fined $65 if you accidentally splash a pedestrian as you drive through a puddle? Don't laugh too hard, though. The United States isn't entirely innocent of having weird driving laws. Here are just a few such odd legal statutes from across the nation. California The sunshine state's books are full of weird legal statutes. In Glendale, action heroes could face a fine for jumping out of cars speeding in excess of 65 miles per hour. In ... Read More >