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 repeal them, and some even still enforce them! Here are a few of the weirdest legal statutes our legislative history research was able to dig up, and how they’re handled.
Repealed
Back in 1648, Massachusetts had a law that allowed parents to put one or more of their stubborn sons to death if they so wished. Thankfully, the barbaric law was repealed much later.
Amended
In Camel, California, you can’t wear shoes that have heels higher than two inches or with a less-than-one-inch square base. Though rarely enforced, it was later amended so that you could get a “heel permit” from City Hall.
Ignored
Did you know that it’s technically illegal to drive an automobile in Las Vegas? After all, the noise would frighten all of those horses that people still ride around on there. Since it’d be too costly to repeal the law, the government and citizens ignore it.
Enforced
In North Carolina, a man and a woman who live together in a “lewd” way are still, to this day, liable to pay a $1,000 fine.
And to think that these are just a few of the weirder legal statutes out there. If you’ve ever encountered an odd law in your own legislative research, feel free to share in the comments.