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#Post#: 16627--------------------------------------------------
Obscure Ancient Laws
By: Nikola Date: June 6, 2019, 3:50 pm
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This guy decided to break some silly British laws, including
"handling salmon in suspicious circumstances".
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBzi0n9Fxg
Do you have any similar laws in your country?
#Post#: 16630--------------------------------------------------
Re: Obscure Ancient Laws
By: SuKi Date: June 6, 2019, 4:33 pm
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A friend of mine studying at Oxford found out that there was an
ancient law saying that students had the right to have a tankard
of ale brought to them during exams. Keen to assert this right,
he demanded the invigilator serve him with the said beverage.
The invigilator did as requested, then fined the student for not
wearing a sword.
Moral of story: always read down to the bottom of the list of
any archaic laws you come across.
#Post#: 16632--------------------------------------------------
Re: Obscure Ancient Laws
By: Alharacas Date: June 6, 2019, 6:01 pm
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One pretty old law referred to Kranzgeld (literally: wreath
money). It was financial compensation if you were (or rather:
had been) a woman of "immaculate reputation" and your fiancé
refused to marry you after you'd had sex with him.
Last successful proceedings in 1980 (1000 Deutschmarks,
definitely not worth the bother and ridicule, if you ask me),
law abolished in 1998.
#Post#: 16634--------------------------------------------------
Re: Obscure Ancient Laws
By: SHL Date: June 6, 2019, 7:08 pm
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The US is full of strange old laws like that, too many to list,
that remain on the books, but are just ignored because the State
legislatures are to lazy to repeal them, or just don‘t even know
they are still on the books.
But, the opposite is true too. Sometimes there are no laws on
the books that ought to be. One YouTube some guy has a channel
and put out a clip of weird US laws or lack thereof. In
something like 12 States it is still legal for humans to have
sex with animals. Bizarre as it sounds, it‘s probably the result
of no one ever thinking about it, not because anyone really has
and thought it was an okay thing to make legal.
I recall a story, not that long ago, about some nut who almost
died over this (I‘ll spare everyone the sordid details) in
Washington State, a very progressive State. After the incident
in question, the State legislature quickly passed a law making
the matter (bestiality) illegal. All I can imagine is no one
ever thought about it before.
As to ancient laws, the UK came up with some strange ones it
exported to its colonies but quickly repealed or changed as
times changed. One was the age of majority, setting it at 21.
So, an adult was an adult, not until 21, while the universal
standard always was much agreed to be 18 for most things
(contract making and so on).
The US now has a universal drinking age of 21, the old standard.
But it didn't always. It varied all over the place. The US
Congress coerced the States that had lower drinking ages, like
18, into raising theirs to 21 by threatening to cut-off their
highway funding if they didn’t comply with this standard within
2 years or so (this was back in the mid-80s). The reason they
did this was to lower drunk driving fatalities (who knows if it
worked). So, all the States, not wanting to lose highway funding
said, „no problem“, and all did, all except one territory,
Puerto Rico, which said no, and stuck with 18 (but Puerto Rico
doesn’t have much in roads anyone so I suppose that is why they
didn’t care).
I always wondered why 21? Why 20 years plus one? Where did THAT
come from? Why not just round it to 20?
Then I read a book written by a drunk driving defense lawyer who
explained the origins of the age 21 laws. At Common Law, in
England, a young knight was considered strong enough by age 21
to lift up his armor and put it on without any help, back in
whatever Century that was. Hence, the English Common Law adopted
21 as the age a person became an adult and all the British
Colonies just went along with it. But, that was Centuries ago.
It just goes to illustrate how strange some of these ancient
laws were and still are.
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