Theaters in Glendale, California can show horror films only on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
You can't plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.
In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes.
Under the law of Mississippi, there’s no such thing as a female Peeping Tom.
Anti-modem laws restrict Internet access in the country of Burma. Illegal possession of a modem can lead to a prison term.
Lawn darts are illegal in Canada.
In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.
Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.
It is against the law to whale hunt in Oklahoma. (Think about it...)
A Venetian law decrees that all gondolas must be painted black. The only exceptions are gondolas belonging to high public officials.
In the state of Queensland, Australia, it is still constitutional law that all pubs (hotel/bar) must have a railing outside for patrons to tie up their horse.
According to law, no store is allowed to sell a toothbrush on the Sabbath in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet these same stores are allowed to sell toothpaste and mouthwash on Sundays.
Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.
Chewing gum is outlawed in Singapore because it is a means of "tainting an environment free of dirt."
The handkerchief had been used by the Romans, who ordinarily wore two handkerchiefs: one on the left wrist and one tucked in at the waist or around the neck. In the fifteenth century, the handkerchief was for a time allowed only to the nobility; special laws were made to enforce this. The classical heritage was rediscovered during the Renaissance.
For hundreds of years, the Chinese zealously guarded the secret of sericulture; imperial law decreed death by torture to those who disclosed how to make silk.
An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.
By law, information collected in a U.S. census must remain confidential for 72 years.
Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.
A slander case in Thailand was once settled by a witness who said nothing at all. According to the memoirs of Justice Gerald Sparrow, a 20th century British barrister who served as a judge in Bangkok, the case involved two rival Chinese merchants. Pu Lin and Swee Ho. Pu Lin had stated sneeringly at a party that Swee Ho's new wife, Li Bua, was merely a decoration to show how rich her husband was. Swee Ho, he said, could no longer "please the ladies." Swee Ho sued for slander, claiming Li Bua was his wife in every sense - and he won his case, along with substantial damages, without a word of evidence being taken. Swee Ho's lawyer simply put the blushing bride in the witness box. She had decorative, gold-painted fingernails, to be sure, but she was also quite obviously pregnant.
In Breton, Alabama, there is a law on the town's books against riding down the street in a motorboat.
Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition.
A few years back, a Chinese soap hit it big with consumers in Asia. It was claimed in ads that users would lose weight with Seaweed Defat Scented Soap simply by washing with it. The soap was sold in violation to the Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and was banned. Reportedly, the craze for the soap was so great that Japanese tourists from China and Hong Kong brought back large quantities. The product was also in violation of customs regulations. In June and July 1999 alone, over 10,000 bars were seized.
In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.
In New York State, it is still illegal to shoot a rabbit from a moving trolley car.
Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine are the four states in the U.S. that do not allow billboards.
Wetaskiwin, Alberta from 1917: "It's against the law to tie a male horse next to a female horse on Main Street."
Women were banned by royal decree from using hotel swimming pools in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in 1979.
In Riverside, California, there is an old law on the city's books which makes it illegal to kiss unless both people wipe their lips with rose water.
In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee
In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.
In Pennsylvania, Ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk.
In seventeenth-century Japan, no citizen was allowed to leave the country on penalty of death. Anyone caught coming or going without permission was executed on the spot.
In Somalia, Africa, it's been decreed illegal to carry old chewing gum stuck on the tip of your nose.
In some smaller towns in the state of Arizona, it is illegal to wear suspenders.
In South America, it would be rude not to ask a man about his wife and children. In most Arab countries, it would be rude to do so.
Being rude to a telephone operator in Prussia was once a crime. In 1908, a respected citizen was reprimanded by the government after becoming exasperated with an operator and saying "My dear girl!"
In Thailand, the left hand is considered unclean, so you should not eat with it. Also, pointing with one finger is considered rude and is only done when pointing to objects or animals, never humans.
In Pakistan, it is rude to show the soles of your feet or point a foot when you are sitting on the floor.
It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
During the reign of Catherine I of Russia, the rules for parties stipulated that no man was to get drunk before 9 o'clock and ladies weren't to get drunk at any hour.
In 1845 Boston had an ordinance banning bathing unless you had a doctor's prescription.
Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.
Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space. The first to exercise this right to vote while in orbit was astronaut David Wolf, who cast his vote for Houston mayor via e-mail from the Russian space station Mir in November 1997.
No building in DC may be taller than 13 floors. This is so that no matter where in the city you are, you can see the monument to our first president, Washington.
In Michigan it's illegal to place a skunk inside your bosses desk.
In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket.
During the time that the atomic bomb was being hatched by the United States at Alamogordo, New Mexico, applicants for routine jobs like janitors, were disqualified if they could read. Illiteracy was a job requirement. The reason: the authorities did not want their trash or other papers read.
It's illegal in Alabama to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.
In parts of Alaska, it's illegal to feed alcohol to a moose.
You're subject to fines and/or imprisonment for making "ugly faces" at dogs in Oklahoma.
In Utah, birds have the right of way on all highways.
Christmas was once illegal in England.
In Turkey, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death.
It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.
In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood.
"To prevent violence," it was at one time customary at certain phases of the moon to chain and flog inmates of England's notorious Bedlam Hospital.
In Milan, Italy, when an operator dialed a wrong number, the phone company fined the operator.
In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays.
In December 1997, the state of Nevada (USA) became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as "acts of God"— protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000.
