Talk:Dumb laws
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This article was nominated for deletion on 2007-08-20. The result of the discussion was Keep. |
From the AFD Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dumb laws : If this were an article mindlessly repeating the fake or misrepresented "dumb laws" circulated by lazy newspaper columnists or uncritical emailers, it would be a good candidate for deletion. As it is, it provides encyclopedic information to show that such laws are often nonexistent or grossly misrepresented. An example is a book claiming that a city has "an ordinance against tieing alligators to fire hydrants"[1] when the actual ordinance prohibits tieing ANIMALS to fire hydrants (a 'gator is an animal, right?). As references, there are such sources as the Snopes debunking of sorority houses being banned in some small town as brothels. The article as it exists could be renamed Dumb law hoaxes to more accurately represent it. Or it could have a section on actual dumb laws in addition to the hoaxes. There have been and are some genuinely dumb laws, like the "no snowball law" [2] [3]. If a legislature calls some laws "dumb laws" and moves to repeal them, then it is likely the laws really exist [4]. which could be included if 1)a printed source exists to call it a dumb law and b) a citation to that actual law is provided. The American Bar Association Journal and its counterparts in other countries sometimes include such material in a somewhat humorous but verified way. Some "dumb laws" are actually just old laws which had no sunset provision, such as actual law from my town from circa 1900 which required that an automobile be preceded by someone walking along ahead to assure that horses were not frightened. Edison 16:03, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
- The problem with calling the article "dumb law hoaxes" is that while there are plenty of web sites and books having lists of "dumb law" there are few sources investigating reliability of the "dumb law" lists. It would constitute original research to personally debunk existing "dumb law" lists as hoaxes.--Hq3473 17:53, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Citing laws
Dumblaws.com is a really poor source for citing real law, a lot of the laws cited there are not real. Thus the specific examples like "a law in Ohio prohibiting women from wearing patent leather shoes in public" and "Georgia law prohibiting keeping donkeys in bathtubs" need to either have a REAL cite to a code of law ,or it needs to be clarified that these laws are made up(which they most likely are).--Hq3473 15:07, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
- These examples here are more for the purpose of providing examples to illustrate the concept than to tell of some real laws. Other comparable examples from another source, if you can find one, are perfectly suitable as a substitute. The main reason why I changed the introductory paragraph is to show what a dumb law is like. Shaliya waya 00:14, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
- That is the problem, almost all "dumb laws" that are "seemingly benign" or "hard to carry out" are either complete hoaxes, or are taken out of context(such that putting back in context would no longer make the seem dumb). Thus unless you can provide some evidence to REAL dumb laws, i suggest changing the lead paragraph back to explaining how "dumb laws" are sensationalist hoaxes.--Hq3473 16:06, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Poll: Ten most ridiculous British and international laws
As per some poll on UK TV and reported in the Telegraph. Might be useful for sourced examples.
- Ban on dying in UK Houses of Parliament (apparently it's a Royal Palace so anyone dying there technically has a right to a state funeral)
- Treason to place a stamp with Queens head upside down
- Whale and sturgeon found on a British coast belong to the monarch
- Pregnant women can relieve themselves anywhere (not so dumb, really IMHO)
- Ohio residents banned from getting fish drunk
