Crazy and Funny Laws in the United States

Law and order is considered as one of the important pillars of democracy. A well developed first world country is expected to have a great law and order enforcement and maintenance; right? Wrong!! In this article, we present to you a range of laws from the various states of the United States which are downright laughable, weird? crazy? Well, choose your adjective after reading this!

However, it is important to note that some laws like – you can’t take a lion to the movies in Maryland(jeez!) are non existent but nevertheless, keep making rounds on the internet. Some other crazy-sounding laws have long been overturned but still keep cropping up in the websites.

• In Arizona, it is illegal to feed garbage to pigs, without a permit! A permit can be obtained from the associate director ( of the animal services division of the Arizona department of agriculture) and has to be renewed every January. However, the law doesn’t apply to people feeding garbage from their own homes to pigs they own!
• In Mount Vernon, Iowa, you would need a written permission from the City Council, to throw bricks on a highway! Now, why would they give you the permission to do that?!!
• Got bitten by a dog in Florida? Did the dog owner have any warning signs such as ‘Bad Dog!’ ? If not, chillax! The owner of the dog is liable to the damages caused to you by the dog!
• In Derby, Kansas, tire screeching is prohibited by the law! Now, before you laugh it off, you could end up paying $500 for this offence! Yes, we’re serious!
• So you are planning a trip to Hawaii. And you are dreaming of boozing at the seashore, watching the beautiful sunset…cut to reality! Drinking on the beach is a big no-no! The fine for a passenger found with an open container is $200-$300. And what if you’re the driver? It’s more than $1000. However, you can drink when you’re out in the water!
• Wanna have a drink but you’re underage? You might consider taking admission in a culinary school in Illinois. Wonder why? Culinary students here can legally sip and taste alcohol irrespective of their age! Unfortunately, they will have to spit it after tasting.
• New Jersey is the only state in all of US, to ban sale of home baked cookies!
• In Ohio, a police officer can bite a dog in order to quieten it! Strange? weird?
• Would you consider yourself skillful in catching fish with bare hands? You’d have to beware in Indiana, cause that’s illegal! Yes, fishing with bare hands is not allowed!
• Planning to go to a public park in Maryland? Choose a not-so-hot day, as if you’re found in a sleeveless shirt, you would be violating the law!!
• In Kentucky, it is illegal to sell or exchange live chicks/ducklings/rabbits that have been dyed. However, if you have six of them or more, go ahead! It’s legal! A person found violating this law may be fined up to $500!
• Are you someone who likes giving surprises? Well, you might have to tone down a bit in Louisiana, as it is illegal to order goods for someone when they are not expecting it! No surprises.
• And what if you happen to drive through South Carolina, with trash in your car? Be prepared to pay $500 or spend 30 days in jail!!
• If skateboarding or roller skating is in your hobby list, you might have to strike them off when you’re in Maine! At least not on the sidewalks and streets. While the first few instances of offence may attract fines of $10-$50, from the fifth time on wards, $100 fine must be paid!
• People who are used to driving in the metro cities in India amidst all the traffic and rule-breaking might find it very hard to drive in Maryland! They have a law that forbids profanity while driving, i.e, no profanity while on streets, sidewalk or highway, when there are people within hearing distance.
• Among all these crazy laws, this one is hard to beat. In Oregon, it is illegal to throw fecal matter from a moving vehicle or leave urine in a container on a highway, unless of course you can afford $250 for your craziness!!
• Cannot afford a Netflix subscription? Wish you’re not in Tennessee! Under their ‘theft of entertainment subscription’ law, it is illegal to use someone else’s Netflix account! why is it so difficult to concentrate on your work when all you have is one job to do
• Although we do not know to what extent this is enforced, in Nebraska, you cannot get married if you have an STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease)! Protection, folks!
• A law that ought to have been thrown out of the books long back! In Vermont women must obtain their husbands permission before wearing fake dentures!
• If you happen to stay in Virginia, leave all your childishness behind, as it is illegal for a person above 12 years of age to engage in trick-or-treating!

There are probably more number of laws, like the ones mentioned above, in the Constitution. What one must keep in mind is that, the Constitution was written hundreds of years ago. With time, many laws are bound to become irrelevant and may not have been removed on paper. Well, sometimes it’s good they don’t, ’cause then who’ll entertain us with odd laws like these! Some other laws, which are plain bullshit, may just exist under layers of dust, but not enforced in practice. Trust-able websites like Justia, provide the general public with updated laws for each state and these websites could be used as reference if one is visiting a particular state and wants to know what to be cautious about.

The laws in this article have been hand-picked to suit the title of the article. There are many other laws like ban on billboards, prohibition from sitting on streets, which are practical and make sense. However, every law whether it makes sense at this point of time or not, was instituted for a good reason(at that point of time!) and eventually became irrelevant. While they do give the reader a good laugh, a small research on the internet about the origin of such laws, would make an interesting pastime!