Die and you're under arrest! Britain's most stupid laws

Die and you're under arrest! Britain's most stupid laws Tue Nov 6, 2:19 PM ET



LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II's speech in the British parliament Tuesday may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death. That would have been against the law.

Dying in parliament is an offence and is also by far the most absurd law in Britain, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 people by a television channel showing a legal drama series.

And though the lords were clad in their red and white ermine cloaks and ambassadors from around the world wore colourful national costumes, at least nobody turned up in a suit of armour. Illegal.

Other rules deemed utterly stupid included one that permits a pregnant woman to urinate in a policeman's hat and murdering bow-and-arrow-carrying Scotsmen within the city walls of York, northern England.

A law stating that in Liverpool, only a clerk in a tropical fish store is allowed to be publicly topless, was also ridiculous, said a poll of 3,931 people for UKTV Gold television out Tuesday.

Nearly half of those surveyed admitted to breaking the ban on eating mince pies on Christmas Day, which dates back to the 17th century and was originally designed to outlaw gluttony during the rule of the Puritan Oliver Crowmell.

The laws and other regulations were culled from published research into ancient legislation that has never been repealed although subsequent statutes have rendered them obsolete.

Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.

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)

By billyb on Nov 7, 2007, 06:37 in Off Topic.

billyb says on Nov 7, 2007, 06:39: You Scots on here better pay close attention to #10. "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

LA_MONA says on Nov 7, 2007, 07:17: This is real looney stuff.... especially No.3, 7, 8 and 10. I find no.3 extremely eccentric, what's that all about eh? Para volar, es preciso tener resistencia. -M.Lin 0 funny, 0 helpful.

kalder says on Nov 7, 2007, 08:47: One they didn't mention (for reasons of decorum, one would imagine), but is there on the statute books, is that it is illegal to publicly defecate in the streets of Bristol UNLESS a 'Clerk of the Wards' is holding up one's 'gabardine'. "A piece of cheese may entrap a mouse, but a bicycle could ensnare the Imperial Chancellor."~~An Bai Kuang 0 funny, 0 helpful.

billyb says on Nov 7, 2007, 09:13: Imagine that, the English eccentric???? jaja. "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man. 0 funny, 0 helpful.

Man Tequila says on Nov 7, 2007, 12:33: I'm guessing a lawyer owned the most successful tropical fish store in Merseyside? Whenever I go to England I like to tell the bobbies I'm pregnant, and ask to borrow their cap. ;) Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez) 0 funny, 0 helpful.

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