# Stories behind "dumb laws" from the United States
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 20, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074 "2005-10-20T13:51:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@simply\_cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simply_cats)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/1 "2005-10-20T13:51:13Z")
I have a student who is trying to put together a speech on “dumb laws” in the United States. While we have been able to find several sites that list dumb laws, we are having some difficulty finding the stories behind these laws. Any Dopers out there know of some good sites for the stories behind the laws?
Thanks!
majicats
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/2 "2005-10-20T14:03:00Z")
> [@simply\_cats](#):
>
> I have a student who is trying to put together a speech on “dumb laws” in the United States. While we have been able to find several sites that list dumb laws, we are having some difficulty finding the stories behind these laws. Any Dopers out there know of some good sites for the stories behind the laws?
>
> Thanks!
> majicats
Try your University Library.
It may have WestLaw access, or the equivalent.
---
### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/3 "2005-10-20T14:16:14Z")
Before you begin, you should read [Why a duck?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=321202)
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> A lot of those stupid laws are just absurd examples of perfectly sensible laws. For example, if they say that “It is illegal to leave an alligator tied up to a parking meter in Fargo, North Dakota,” then what the law probably actually says is that it’s illegal to tie any animal up to a parking meter. Yes, this includes alligators, but it also includes nasty vicious dogs, which are what the lawmakers were concerned about when they passed the law.
>
> Like **groman** says, the law in question (if it exists at all) is probably a ban on headgear that uses animal pelts. It sounds like the type of law a legislature might pass if they wanted to ban coon-skin caps.
,
---
### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/4 "2005-10-20T15:20:01Z")
There are strange laws atill out there, though. Many of them are just archaic.
Here, cited strange laws from Buffalo’s Municipal Code. They’re all still on the books. I converted the language from legalese to plain English for the sake of brevity.
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/10 KMPH.
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 shit, Sherlock.)
Don’t believe me? [Look it up](http://gcp.esub.net/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?clientID=218082&infobase=buffalo.nfo&softpage=Browse_Frame_Pg42).
[quote]
§ 378-5. Prohibited acts; posting of notices.\*\*[/color][/size][/font]
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
Still on the books. There’s also a ton of laws regarding quaint turn-of-the-last-century diseases. Here’s a good one; §158-13, with lots of 1800s vernacular and legalese.
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
Get scarlet fever and forget to put up a sign in Polish warning others of the fact? Off to jail!
---
### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/5 "2005-10-20T15:34:06Z")
Here’s a few more great Buffalo laws.
It’s illegal to sell books about fortune telling.
> [@](#):
>
> § 196-1. Sale of materials prohibited.
>
> No person shall sell or offer for sale any book, pamphlet, leaflet, circular or card on fortune-telling or the giving of instructions on how to tell fortunes.
Anyone can have at least one cow on their property.
> [@](#):
>
> § 78-2. Required acreage and permit for keeping cows.
>
> A. No person, persons or association shall maintain upon their premises within the city limits more than one milch cow unless said premises are in proportion of one acre of land to each and every cow above the number of one
It’s illegal to hire or be a scab.
> [@](#):
>
> § 417-1. Employment restrictions.
>
> ```
> A.No person, or officer or agent thereof, involved in a strike or lockout shall knowingly employ, in place of an employee involved in a strike or lockout, any person who customarily and repeatedly offers himself for employment in the place of an employee involved in a strike or lockout.
>
> B.No person who customarily and repeatedly offers himself for employment in place of employees involved in a strike or lockout shall take or offer to take the place of an employee involved in a strike or lockout.
>
> C.No employer shall engage an employee who, to said employer's knowledge, is unaware of the existence of a strike or lockout in a plant currently involved in a strike or lockout, nor shall any employment agency refer persons for employment to a plant currently involved in a strike or lockout without adequate notice to such persons that there is a strike or lockout at the plant at which employment is offered.
>
> ```
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/6 "2005-10-20T15:42:34Z")
My dad told me when I was young that in [Nebraska?] when two trains approach each other on opposing tracks, both trains must stop and neither may roll again until the other one passes.
I never got round to looking for an actual law that _might_ be interpreted that way, since there was no Internet when I was a kid and the ‘law’ is to ridiculous to exist anyway.
---
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/7 "2005-10-20T15:45:44Z")
When they were passed, they were not thought to be silly. The Soviet constitutions (all of them) specified Moscow as the capital. Why? Because they thought it was important.
Swiss law requires all animals be stunned before slaughter. Why? They thought it needed to be mentioned. (How the heck do you slaughter a cow in the Islamic manner if it is stunned? But I digress.)
---
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/8 "2005-10-20T15:48:22Z")
Not the United States, I know, but it is true, AFAIK.
Dumb European law : There is an EC directive declaring carrots to be a type of fruit.
This is often circulated by Euro-sceptics as an example of why they oppose Euriopean integration. It’s true enough, but when you look into it, it doesn’t seem so dumb after all. It was part of legislation saying that any product labelled as jam must have a certain minimum percentage real fruit content. It was noted that carrot jam is popular in Portugal. So, declaring carrots as fruit allowed them to continue production, and contiinue calling it jam.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/9 "2005-10-20T16:07:39Z")
It should be noted that there’s an even simpler explanation for most of the dumb laws you see posted on those dumb laws websites: They don’t exist. In general, unless the website lists where in the statutes of that city/state/nation/whatever the law may be found, and you can independently find that law in an official reference for that city/state/nation/whatever, you should assume that the purported “law” was just made up out of whole cloth.
---
### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/10 "2005-10-20T16:09:09Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> Here’s a few more great Buffalo laws.
>
> It’s illegal to sell books about fortune telling.
My God! I’m guilty of criminal facilitation!
About 27 years ago, I worked for a book remainder house that used to ship consignments of books we bought up when they went out of print to various discount bookstores around the country. One of our clients was on Delaware Ave., and among other things did a passable business in occult/New Age/related gobbledygook. (At $1 or less for a hardcover book…)
I’ll go quietly now, officer! :o
---
### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/11 "2005-10-20T16:18:32Z")
The ton of coal one does make sense, though. Remember that there was for many years, especially in the coal industry, the “long ton” of 2240 pounds, there is the metric tonne of roughly 2205 pounds, and there were measurements in various old European systems that were often “translated” by the use of the equivalent English term (e.g., the “Spanish milled dollar” for the eight-_reales_ silver coin). It may have been important, when Buffalo was a thriving multi-ethnic city, to prevent the expectation that you’d get a long ton, or 1,000 Volhynian grubniks, or whatever, by specifying that a ton of coal was the “short ton” of 2,000 pounds, no more and no less.
I had a friend some years ago who was the only law-abiding citizen of Chateaugay, NY, where an ancient and ignored town ordinance specified that every adult male citizen would annually contribute a bale of hay to the volunteer fire department to help feed the horses. (The fire department had had normal truck-style fire engines for decades, but the law remained on the books, unenforced and forgotten.) He, being a smartass, bought a bale of hay and made a copy of the ordinance, then took them to the firehouse and turned the haybale over to the stupefied chief, explaining that he was complying with the law. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/12 "2005-10-20T16:28:27Z")
This may help you out. It is a thread I started about weird laws that are actually enforced. Sadly, my main example of not being allowed to stand with an alcoholic drink has since been repealed.
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278601&highlight=enforced](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278601&highlight=enforced)
---
### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/13 "2005-10-20T17:07:27Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#):
>
> Before you begin, you should read [Why a duck?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=321202) ,
I did, and unwittingly resurrected it. :smack:
---
### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/14 "2005-10-20T17:17:14Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278601&highlight=enforced](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=278601&highlight=enforced)
This one too. Call a moderator, I’m giving myself up.
---
### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/15 "2005-10-20T17:23:10Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> 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.
It could probably be argued these days that, with the tremendous wane of chewing tobacco use and the subsequent absense of public spitting, zero is a “sufficient number”.
---
### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/16 "2005-10-20T18:06:52Z")
As others have said, do not trust those lame dumb law sites.
One that I remember stated that in order to sell beer in some city, a pot of soup must be cooking somewhere on the premises. The real story: In this town, only restaurants were legally allowed to serve alcoholic beverages. A few bars got around this restriction by plugging in a little hot pot and pouring a can of soup in it. Now they were a restaurant that sold cups of soup for a dollar even though no one ever really wanted soup. The real story is much more interesting than the “dumb law.”
---
### Author:  [@CartesianDaemon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CartesianDaemon)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2005, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/17 "2005-10-20T18:12:36Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> It’s illegal to sell books about fortune telling.
Well, I have a certain sympathy 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stories-behind-dumb-laws-from-the-united-states/327074/18 "2005-10-21T05:18:11Z")
The city of Chico, California, may still have a law on the books making it a local misdemeanor to use a nuclear weapon within city limits. (I went to college there, which is why I remember hearing about this.) As with other laws mentioned, there’s more to the story; I’ve understood that the ordinance was a symbolic protest by the City Council about nuclear weaponry in general, and possibly a reaction to the discovery of some local long-since-abandoned nuke missle silos - if I recall correctly. Somewhat silly, yes, but that’s politics for you.