Weird Laws

[DevLaVaca]

In Staff Report: Are those weird laws you hear about for real?, GFactor uses the wrong term.

Malum in se is something that is inherently wrong. It means "evil in itself".

Malum prohibitum is the term you want to use.

[Gfactor]

That's correct. I had them switched. Thanks.

[Gfactor]

I changed the thread title to weird laws so that we can keep all of the comments on the column in one thread.

Gfactor
General Questions Moderator

[Outpits]

In the late 60's/early 70's in Arkansas on Sundays it was legal to buy black or brown shoelaces at the local drug store, but not blue. Of course, being a smart-aleck kid I had to ask why. The pharmacist/owner said that his guidance booklet said that black or brown shoes were appropriate to wear to church, but blue shoes were primarily work attire.

I recall it as a dizzying array of things that could or could not be purchased.

[Jragon]

Originally Posted by Outpits

In the late 60's/early 70's in Arkansas on Sundays it was legal to buy black or brown shoelaces at the local drug store, but not blue. Of course, being a smart-aleck kid I had to ask why. The pharmacist/owner said that his guidance booklet said that black or brown shoes were appropriate to wear to church, but blue shoes were primarily work attire.

I recall it as a dizzying array of things that could or could not be purchased.

Some of this sounds like it would fit in a Monty Python skit or something:

"'Ello sir, might I have some of those blue shoes."

"No, sorry."

"Well, why not?"

"It's Sunday!"

"Then why are you open!?"

"You can buy some fo these brown shoes, or maybe black ones."

"Okay, but if I can buy those why not the blue ones."

"It's Sunday."

Continue in same flow for five minutes.

[Chronos]

I'm a little disappointed that GFactor didn't mention the most common explanation for the weird laws you see in those e-mail lists: The person who wrote the list just made them up.

[Saint Cad]

Originally Posted by Chronos

I'm a little disappointed that GFactor didn't mention the most common explanation for the weird laws you see in those e-mail lists: The person who wrote the list just made them up.

I was just about to say the same thing. As a lark, I researched many of the "weird laws" that are commonly thrown around and many don't exist.

Among the common non-existant laws -
California: Sunshine is guaranteed to the masses.
Arizona: It is illegal to hunt camels.
Washington: All motor vehicles must be preceded by a red flag during the day and a red lantern at night.
Alaska: It is illegal to view a moose from an airplane. (Interestingly, Title 16 Chapter 5 is the Fish and Game Code Section 790 makes it illegal to obstruct a person's view of game.)
Idaho: It is illegal for a person to give another person a box of candy weighing more than 50 lbs.
South Carolina: It is legal to beat you wife on the court steps on a Sunday.
Alabama: It is illegal to drive blindfolded. (However Section 32-5A-53 deals with passengers obstructing a driver's view)
Massachusetts: It is illegal for mourners to eat more than 3 sandwiches.
Florida: It is illegal to shower naked.
Iowa: Kisses cannot last for more than 5 minutes.
Ohio: It is illegal to get a fish drunk. (Unless you are getting it drunk to make it easier to catch. That violates ORC 1533.37)
Nebraska: It is illegal to sleep naked in a hotel or motel.
Utah: It is illegal to NOT drink milk.
Kentucky: One must take a bath once a year.
Vermont: It is illegal to whistle underwater.
Minnesota: It is illegal to come into the state with a duck on your head. (But Eurasian wild pig or a game fish on your head would be an illegal importation)
Tennesee: Eight women cannot live together as that constitutes a brothel.
NONE of these are real laws.

The sad part is there are many weird laws that do exist.
New Mexico: Idiots are not allowed to vote. (State Constitution Article VII Section 1, written in 1911 when "Idiot" denoted someone with an IQ of less than 20.
Alaska: It is illegal to possess table salt. (Because hydrochloric gas is used in the production of methamphetamines, Alaska Code Section 11.71.200 makes it illegal to posess any salts of it. One of these salts is sodium chloride, otherwise known as common table salt.)
Arizona: You can be younger than your adopted child. (Arizona Revised Statutes 8-102 states that any person 21 years or younger can be adopted, yet ARS 8-101 says that anyone 18 or older is an adult. Since ARS 8-103 allows any adult resident to adopt, you can be up three years younger than the child that you adopt.)
Georgia: You must be a registered voter to hold elected office. (The Georgia State Constitution Article II Section II Paragraph III gives the disqualifications for holding a state office. The FIRST disqualification (even before being a convicted felon) is not being a registered voter.)
Idaho: Idaho makes it illegal for one spouse to abandon the other and leave them destitute but only men can be punished - women can't. (Although Idaho Statute 18-401(3) outlawing spousal abandonment is written in gender neutral language, Idaho Statutes 18-402, 18-403, and 18-404 which punishes spousal abandonment is written so that only an abandoned wife can receive support. As written, husbands do not need to be supported if their wife abandons them.)
Indiana: It is illegal to sell alcohol on Election Day (Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-1 gives the days that alcohol sales are prohibited.)
Kentucky: If you want to sell fowl under two months of age, you must sell a minimum of 6. (Kentucky Revised Statutes 436.600 in the "Offenses Against Morality" section)
Minnesota: It is illegal to sell a 6 pound bag of flour. (Minnesota Statute 239.51 makes it a crime to sell flour in a pre-packaged size other than 3, 5, 10, 25, 50, or 100 pounds. Sizes that are less than 3 lbs or multiples of 100 pounds are also allowed.)

[clairobscur]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

Arizona: You can be younger than your adopted child. (Arizona Revised Statutes 8-102 states that any person 21 years or younger can be adopted, yet ARS 8-101 says that anyone 18 or older is an adult.

This one doesn't surprise me at all. In many countries, there is no age limit to be adopted, and I would suspect that in a number of those there's no requirement that the person adopted should be younger.

Adoption isn't intended solely for children.

[Outpits]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

Indiana: It is illegal to sell alcohol on Election Day (Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-1 gives the days that alcohol sales are prohibited.)

Nitpick: In Indiana it is illegal to sell alcohol while the polls are open. Usually, there is robust business in the taverns at 6:00 PM, as the polls close. At about 5:50 the bartender will take orders, prepare the drinks and then dispense them at the stroke of 6:00.

IC 7.1-5-10-1

(3) On primary election day, and general election day, from 3:00 o'clock in the morning, prevailing local time, until the voting polls are closed in the evening on these days.

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

I was just about to say the same thing. As a lark, I researched many of the "weird laws" that are commonly thrown around and many don't exist.

Among the common non-existant laws -
California: Sunshine is guaranteed to the masses.
Arizona: It is illegal to hunt camels.
Washington: All motor vehicles must be preceded by a red flag during the day and a red lantern at night.
Alaska: It is illegal to view a moose from an airplane. (Interestingly, Title 16 Chapter 5 is the Fish and Game Code Section 790 makes it illegal to obstruct a person's view of game.)
Idaho: It is illegal for a person to give another person a box of candy weighing more than 50 lbs.
South Carolina: It is legal to beat you wife on the court steps on a Sunday.
Alabama: It is illegal to drive blindfolded. (However Section 32-5A-53 deals with passengers obstructing a driver's view)
Massachusetts: It is illegal for mourners to eat more than 3 sandwiches.
Florida: It is illegal to shower naked.
Iowa: Kisses cannot last for more than 5 minutes.
Ohio: It is illegal to get a fish drunk. (Unless you are getting it drunk to make it easier to catch. That violates ORC 1533.37)
Nebraska: It is illegal to sleep naked in a hotel or motel.
Utah: It is illegal to NOT drink milk.
Kentucky: One must take a bath once a year.
Vermont: It is illegal to whistle underwater.
Minnesota: It is illegal to come into the state with a duck on your head. (But Eurasian wild pig or a game fish on your head would be an illegal importation)
Tennesee: Eight women cannot live together as that constitutes a brothel.
NONE of these are real laws.

Nice work. Although you can find many of these attributed to multiple jurisdictions, and to be fair, some could be local ordinances or outdated statutes or ordinances. While it's still a true proposition that they aren't real laws as described, they might still exist, or they might have existed before the last recodification of the statutes.

The sad part is there are many weird laws that do exist.

New Mexico: Idiots are not allowed to vote. (State Constitution Article VII Section 1, written in 1911 when "Idiot" denoted someone with an IQ of less than 20.

What part of this is weird? That the State Constitution uses the word "idiot"? That New Mexico hasn't amended it? Or that they don't let the severely retarded vote?

Alaska: It is illegal to possess table salt. (Because hydrochloric gas is used in the production of methamphetamines, Alaska Code Section 11.71.200 makes it illegal to posess any salts of it. One of these salts is sodium chloride, otherwise known as common table salt.)

Here's the statute:

Listed chemicals are chemicals that are used in manufacturing a controlled substance in violation of this chapter. Listed chemicals include

(1) anthranilic acid, its esters, and its salts;

(2) benzaldehyde;

(3) benzyl cyanide;

(4) ephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers;

(5) ergonovine and its salts;

(6) ergotamine and its salts;

(7) N-acetylanthranilic acid, its esters, and its salts;

(8) nitroethane;

(9) norpseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers;

(10) phenylacetic acid, its esters, and its salts;

(11) phenylpropanolamine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers;

(12) piperidine and its salts;

(13) pseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers;

(14) 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone;

(15) any salt, optical isomer, or salt of an optical isomer of the following chemicals:

(A) ethylamine;

(B) hydriodic acid;

(C) isosafrole;

(D) methylamine;

(E) N-methylephedrine;

(F) N-methylpseudoephedrine;

(G) piperonal;

(H) propionic anhydride;

(I) safrole;

(16) acetic anhydride;

(17) acetone;

(18) anhydrous ammonia;

(19) benzyl chloride;

(20) ethyl ether;

(21) hydriotic acid;

(22) hydrochloric gas;

(23) hydrophosphoric acid;

(24) iodine and crystal iodine;

(25) lithium metal;

(26) potassium permanganate;

(27) red phosphorous;

(28) toluene;

(29) 2-butanone (or methyl ethyl ketone).

http://touchngo.com/lglcntr/akstats/...Section200.htm

The bolded section is where it talks about hydrochloric gas. I don't see where it bans sodium chloride or salts of hydrochloric acid gas. In fact, Section 15 lists several substances whose salts are banned, but not that one. Under the doctrine of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, it's unlikely that a court would interpret this statute to bar salts of substances that aren't specifically listed.

So does that make you one of those folks who "just made up" a law?

Originally Posted by clairobscur

This one doesn't surprise me at all. In many countries, there is no age limit to be adopted, and I would suspect that in a number of those there's no requirement that the person adopted should be younger.

Right. Many on the weird list aren't that weird to me.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

Tennesee: Eight women cannot live together as that constitutes a brothel.
NONE of these are real laws.

This one is very popular and I believe it's long since spread around the country as an urban legend. I heard this one in college as an alleged local law, and I didn't go to college in Tennessee.

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Marley23

This one is very popular and I believe it's long since spread around the country as an urban legend. I heard this one in college as an alleged local law, and I didn't go to college in Tennessee.

I'm pretty sure I've seen some variation of this law which was real--and was probably repealed or replaced. I'll check my historical sex law books when I get home.

[Northern Piper]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

I'll check my historical sex law books when I get home.

"Historical sex law books"? you have a collection of them? I didn't realise that was a recognised area of practice in Michigan!

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

"Historical sex law books"? you have a collection of them?

Don't you?

I didn't realise that was a recognised area of practice in Michigan!

What!?! A guy can't have a hobby?

[John W. Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

The bolded section is where it talks about hydrochloric gas. I don't see where it bans sodium chloride or salts of hydrochloric acid gas. In fact, Section 15 lists several substances whose salts are banned, but not that one. Under the doctrine of expressio unius est exclusio alterius, it's unlikely that a court would interpret this statute to bar salts of substances that aren't specifically listed.

So does that make you one of those folks who "just made up" a law?

I can find no definition of "Hydrochloric gas" other than gaseous anhydrous HCl.

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by John W. Kennedy

I can find no definition of "Hydrochloric gas" other than gaseous anhydrous HCl.

Correctomundo:

A. What Is Anhydrous Hydrogen Chloride?

Anhydrous hydrogen chloride is the water free form of hydrochloric acid and is a List II chemical under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The statutory term "hydrochloric gas'' used in the MCA refers to a form of hydrogen chloride more properly called anhydrous hydrogen chloride. Anhydrous hydrogen chloride is hydrogen chloride that is free from water. At ambient temperature and normal atmospheric pressure, anhydrous hydrogen chloride exists as a gas. Therefore, sometimes anhydrous hydrogen chloride is referred to as hydrogen chloride gas or hydrochloric gas.
When the atmospheric pressure is increased and/or the temperature is decreased, anhydrous hydrogen chloride can change from a gas to a liquid. This is sometimes referred to as refrigerated hydrogen chloride. Refrigerated hydrogen chloride is the same as anhydrous hydrogen chloride although the physical state has been changed from a gas to a liquid.

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fe...001/fr0816.htm (Emphasis added.)

And a salt is "a compound in which metal atoms (or electro positive radicals e.g ammonium) replace one or more of the replaceable hydrogen atoms of an acid." http://www.students.stir.ac.uk/biology/ionpot/salt.htm

That's a different compound. The statute bans some salts and some chemicals and their salts. It does not ban table salt.

[Chronos]

The line "(15) any salt, optical isomer, or salt of an optical isomer of the following chemicals:" only refers to the chemicals A-H immediately below it. Hydrochloric gas is 22 on the list, at the same level as the "any salt..." listing, so salts of hydrochloric gas aren't covered.

It's still a somewhat silly thing to ban: Stomach acids and many cleaning solutions contain aqueous HCl, and whereever you have the aqueous solution, you're going to also have some vapor pressure of the gas. Does the law say anything about "reasonable quantities", or the like?

[zut]

Originally Posted by Chronos

The line "(15) any salt, optical isomer, or salt of an optical isomer of the following chemicals:" only refers to the chemicals A-H immediately below it. Hydrochloric gas is 22 on the list, at the same level as the "any salt..." listing, so salts of hydrochloric gas aren't covered.

It's still a somewhat silly thing to ban: Stomach acids and many cleaning solutions contain aqueous HCl, and whereever you have the aqueous solution, you're going to also have some vapor pressure of the gas. Does the law say anything about "reasonable quantities", or the like?

IANAL, but it appears that "listed chemicals" are only referred to in AS 11.71.020. Misconduct Involving a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, which says that

(a) Except as authorized in AS 17.30, a person commits the crime of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree if the person...

(4) possesses a listed chemical with intent to manufacture any material, compound, mixture, or preparation that contains

(A) methamphetamine, or its salts, isomers, or salts of isomers; or

(B) an immediate precursor of methamphetamine, or its salts, isomers, or salts of isomer.

(b) In this section, "listed chemical" means a chemical described under AS 11.71.200 .

(c) Misconduct involving a controlled substance in the second degree is a class A felony.

(my bold)

So (I infer) possessing the cemicals is not a crime, it's possession coupled with the intent to manufacture meth that's the crime.

[zut]

(remove double post)

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by zut

So (I infer) possessing the cemicals is not a crime, it's possession coupled with the intent to manufacture meth that's the crime.

I think that's right. These same statutes cover Sudafed and some other items that one might possess for innocent reasons.

[Saint Cad]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

I think that's right. These same statutes cover Sudafed and some other items that one might possess for innocent reasons.

OK, then scratch that one off the list

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

The sad part is there are many weird laws that do exist.
...Georgia: You must be a registered voter to hold elected office. (The Georgia State Constitution Article II Section II Paragraph III gives the disqualifications for holding a state office. The FIRST disqualification (even before being a convicted felon) is not being a registered voter.)

This doesn't sound so weird.

When I was in college there was a prevalent belief that it was illegal to drive barefoot. I did my own weird law research for an alternative newspaper I wrote for and found that, despite this widespread belief, in no state was it illegal to drive barefoot. (Painstaking, and without benefit of the internet.)

But it was illegal to do some other rather surprising things barefoot. Go into a restaurant, for instance--not too surprising. But at least one state (I'm thinking Texas) extended this to any kind of eating, including in your car at a Sonic-style restaurant, or maybe that was just one way the law could be interpreted based on how it was written. This, of course, would apply to the driver and passengers alike.

[Elendil's Heir]

Ohio law requires public officials to be "qualified electors," which IIRC has always been interpreted to mean registered voters. Doesn't seem so weird to me - wouldn't you want officeholders to be interested enough in the political system to actually be able to vote (for themselves, if for no one else)?

Ohio law referred to "idiots" and "imbeciles" rather than the "mentally disabled" until just a few years ago, when it was changed to be P.C. (and more in keeping with contemporary theories of mental health).

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Northern Piper

"Historical sex law books"? you have a collection of them?

Ok. A search turned up nothing.

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

Ok. A search turned up nothing.

All the more reason to write your own!

[Captain Amazing]

Originally Posted by Saint Cad

IKentucky: If you want to sell fowl under two months of age, you must sell a minimum of 6. (Kentucky Revised Statutes 436.600 in the "Offenses Against Morality" section)

Chicks, ducklings, or other fowl or rabbits, actually. The same law prohibits dying or coloring them. It's a "protect the Easter pets" law...people have been known to give chicks, ducklings, and young rabbits as gifts for Easter. The recipients are usually unable to care for an adult chicken, duck, or rabbit, and so the animal usually ends up killed or abandoned when it's not "cute" anymore.

[elmwood]

Buffalo, New York has an outdated municipal code with a lot of cruft that built up through the years. Some strange laws I found, with cites:

98-8 - It's illegal to give a shoeshine on Sunday after 1:00 PM.
352-1 - Steam locomotives cannot cross street level crossings faster than 6 MPH.
378-5 - All businesses, factories, theaters, railroad depots and other public gathering places must provide public spitoons. Spitoons must be cleaned and disinfected every day.
378-6 - It's illegal for restaurants to give their patrons a straw without a wrapper.
501-3 - A ton of coal weighs 2,000 pounds (no duh!)

Don't believe me? Look it up.

[/font] § 378-5. Prohibited acts; posting of notices.

D. Every corporation, proprietor or other person owning, operating or controlling any store, factory, theater or other building or room which is used in common by the public or any depot or railroad station shall provide a sufficient number of nonabsorbent receptacles for expectoration and shall provide for the thorough cleansing and disinfection thereof at least once in twenty-four (24) hours.

Some more of my favorite old-timey laws still on the books in Buffalo:

§ 352-6. Discharging or opening cylinder cocks.

It shall not be lawful for any person in the employ of any railroad company operating within the limits of the city to cause or permit the cylinder cocks of the locomotive under his control to be discharged or opened upon any street crossing in the city. Any person violating the provisions of this section and the company owning the locomotive, the cylinder cocks of which shall be so discharged, shall each pay a penalty as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article III, General Penalty, of this Code.

§ 3-18. Ordinance Powers.

(9)To prevent and abate nuisances; to prohibit or regulate the blowing of steam whistles or the ringing of bells; to prevent the emission of dense smoke, soot or dust; to regulate or prohibit the use of public pumps, wells, hydrants or reservoirs; to regulate the construction of public and private sewers, sinks and privies; to locate, regulate and remove slaughterhouses, butchers' stalls, fish stands, livery stables, tanneries and unwholesome or noisome buildings or places and to compel the cleansing of same.

158.13 No person shall visit or enter any house wherein is any person sick with small pox or varioloid, except the persons who, at the time said patient was taken sick, were residents of said house, the nurse or nurses employed in the care of such patient and such regularly attending physicians as may be called; nor shall any person who is in constant attendance upon such sick person leave or depart from said house during the time when such sick person remains therein, and not thereafter until the wearing apparel which he or she has worn while in attendance upon such sick person shall have been replaced by clothing which has not been worn in such sickroom, and then only upon a written permit from the Health Commissioner. It shall be the duty of the Health Department to put up and maintain in a conspicuous place at the front entrance of any building, and also at any other entrance thereof, in which there shall be any person sick or infected with smallpox, varioloid, scarlet fever or diphtheria (or croup in any form) a card or sign on which shall be written or printed in English and German, Italian or Polish the words designating the infectious disease with which such sick person is affected and to keep the same so posted during all the time when such sick or infected person shall remain in said building. In any cases mentioned in this section, it shall be unlawful to remove or cause to be removed any such placard or notification of warning so placed by the Health Department; and in cases of diphtheria, such placard shall not be removed until bacteriological examinations shall have shown that no further danger from contagion exists; and no person shall, without the permission of the Health Commissioner, remove any such sign or placard so placed on any building. In case any such sign shall have been removed, either by accident or design, it shall be the duty of the person or persons occupying said building to notify the Department of Health thereof forthwith. It shall be the duty of the Health Commissioner to have printed in English, German, Polish and Italian circulars and other literature pertaining to all the infectious diseases specified in § 158-1 of this chapter and to cause said circulars and literature to be distributed for the information of the public. In the case of tuberculosis, he shall have printed, in addition, suitable signs or placards explaining the danger of indiscriminate expectoration.

This is still on the books in Oakland, Florida, a suburb of Orlando.

Sec. 50-20. Vagrants.

(a) The following shall be deemed vagrants:

(1) Rogues, vagabonds, idle or dissolute persons who go about begging;
(2) Common gamblers;
(3) Persons who use juggling or unlawful games or plays;
(4) Common pipers and fiddlers;
(5) Common drunkards;
(6) Common night walkers;
(7) Thieves, pilferers, traders in stolen property;
(8) Lewd, wanton and lascivious persons;
(9) Keepers of gambling places;
(10) Common railers and brawlers;
(11) Persons who neglect their calling or employment or are without reasonable continuous employment or regular income and who have not sufficient property to sustain themselves and misspend what they earn without providing for themselves or for the support of their families;
(12) Persons wandering or strolling around from place to place without any lawful purpose or object, habitual loafers, idle and disorderly persons;
(13) Persons neglecting all lawful business and habitually spending their time by frequenting houses of ill fame, gaming houses or tippling shops;
(14) Persons able to work but habitually living upon the earnings of their wives or minor children; and
(15) All ablebodied persons over the age of 18 years who are without means of support and remain in idleness.

In short,

3) Go away, Opal.

Basically, don't juggle, fiddle, pipe or flâneur in Oakland.

[t-bonham@scc.net]

/QUOTE]New Mexico: Idiots are not allowed to vote. (State Constitution Article VII Section 1, written in 1911 when "Idiot" denoted someone with an IQ of less than 20./QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Gfactor

What part of this is weird? That the State Constitution uses the word "idiot"? That New Mexico hasn't amended it? Or that they don't let the severely retarded vote?

Minnesota law used to say something like this, but now it just says that you cannot vote if you are under court-ordered guardianship or have been ruled legally incompetent by a court.

I don't see what's weird about that at all.

[Irishman]

It's weird when you hear idiots are not allowed to vote. It's less weird when idiots is defined.

[Gfactor]

Originally Posted by Irishman

It's weird when you hear idiots are not allowed to vote. It's less weird when idiots is defined.

Right. In the last century, the law included several politically incorrect terms, some of which still remain on the books in some places. Idiots, Infants (used to describe those under the age of majority), and Bastards are all discussed in statutes and cases.

[BritinUS]

Britain, too, had its blue laws -there are still counties where the bars don't open and you can't buy petrol (gas) on a Sunday. For years the Sunday closing laws were heavily protect by the "Lord's Day Observance Society" and the shopworkers unions. A few years back (60's?) the law was relaxed to allow the sale of perishables. Perishables was quite broadly defined, and the famous anomoly that it created was that on a Sunday you could buy a Playboy magazine but not a Bible. Magazines were considered perishable, but books were not.

On the subject of defining a ton of coal as 2000 lbs - that is not as strange as it may seem. Many parts of the world use the English ton, which is 2400 lbs, others use the metric ton which is 1000kilos or 2,205 lbs.

Also different but with the same name is the liquid measure: in the US a pint is 16ozs, but in the UK it is 20 ozs, so a quart in the US is 32 ozs but in the UK it is 40 ozs, and a US gallon is 128ozs and a UK gallon is 160ozs. So before you compare the cost of gas to the cost of petrol you have to do a measures adjustment too!

Incidentally, a UK ounce is 0.960759936343 of a US ounce... And heat is mostly measured in BTUs - British Thermal Units!

[John W. Kennedy]

Originally Posted by BritinUS

For years the Sunday closing laws were heavily protect by the "Lord's Day Observance Society"

Ah yes! The same folks who protested against the life of Christ being broadcast on the BBC back in the 40s, 'cos, y'know, if people started thinking of Jesus as a "really real" person, who knows what might happen next!...

On the subject of defining a ton of coal as 2000 lbs - that is not as strange as it may seem. Many parts of the world use the English ton, which is 2400 lbs,

'Tisn't. The Imperial (or "long") ton is 20 Imperial (or "long") hundredweights (112 pounds), or 160 stone (14 pounds), which is 2240 pounds.

Also different but with the same name is the liquid measure: in the US a pint is 16ozs, but in the UK it is 20 ozs, so a quart in the US is 32 ozs but in the UK it is 40 ozs, and a US gallon is 128ozs and a UK gallon is 160ozs. So before you compare the cost of gas to the cost of petrol you have to do a measures adjustment too!

Incidentally, a UK ounce is 0.960759936343 of a US ounce...

In all of that, substitute "fluid ounces" (a unit of volume) for "ounces" (a unit of weight). And on the US "pints" and "quarts", make that "liquid pints" and "liquid quarts"; the US also has "dry pints" and "dry quarts", which are different.