Most ridiculous British laws

An Internet article today said that a British TV station asked 4,000 people to choose from a short list the most ridiculous laws in Britain. Here are the results of the voting.

Most ridiculous British law:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (seven percent)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (five percent)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)

6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 percent)

8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (three percent)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (three percent)

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (two percent)

And I thought we had some silly ones here in America!

 

There used to be a TV programme on British TV on which there was an item called Breaking the Law in which they would publicly break an old daft law to the music of Judas Priest - I think one of the crimes they committed was driving sheep across Westminster Bridge in London on a Sunday - to the best of my knowledge they never got arrested for anything.

 

Hmmm....

 

in relation to laws 1 and 3.

Law 1,The reason that people are not allowed to 'die' in the Houses of Parliament is due to the fact that as the House is classed as a royal palace, anyone dieing there is theoretically entitled to a state funeral.

Law 3, The local authorities in Liverpool have denied this law ever existed. Its an urban myth

 

what about 10?

 

I'm just wondering where the head of a whale begins.

 

The head starts at the tip of the whale's snout and goes backward except for narwhals where it arguably starts at the point of the horn the horn being part of the head.

Hope this answers your question.

 

Just spitballing here, but maybe he meant where the head starts from the bottom up, as in from tail to head.
Or to take it from your perspective, where the head ends when starting at the tip of the snout.
Personally though I think the question is irrelevant until you know where the tail ends and starts.

 

Presumably where the skull ends. The law was written to ensure that the king got the valuable ambergris contained within a whale's skull.

 

I would imagine point 10 dates from a time when a Scotsman with a bow was an armed enemy soldier.

 

but its still true right?

 

Well might be worth updating if the Scottish National Party get their way.

 

maybe we should invite Brown to a cowboy and indian party in York and test out the theory?

FNG

 

Well, I wouldn't like to try getting away with it.

I remember a story about a Cambridge student, who decided to be a smart-arse and demanded a goblet of Malmsey during his exams, as was a student's right by some Medieval law. So the University gave him the wine, then fined him for not wearing his dagger when in University grounds...

 

The law has never been repelled, but subsequent statutes have
rendered it obsolete.
So the answer is, you cannot murder a Scotsman carrying a bow and arrow in York

 

Yes you can, actually - but it's illegal.

:smok:

 

Yes, thank you.

 

Very true

 

One does hope no one ever tries it, of course.

 

what happens if a topless, pregnant , petshopgirl scotswoman armed with a bow and arrows , knocks on your door and needs to use the toilet ?
..i guess i would go ahead and let her enter and devil take the civil codes !!!