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List of stupidest laws in Britain revealed

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Thursday, November 8, 2007

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The results of a survey by the UK TV station UKTV Gold has revealed the 10 most stupid laws, as determined by the 4,000 participants. It is unclear as to how many of the laws are true, or still in effect but at least one has been determined as being a myth. The ten laws are listed below.

  1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament. 27%
  2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down. 7%
  3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store. 6%
  4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day. 5%
  5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter. 4%
  6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet. 4%
  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%
  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. 3%
  9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour. 3%
  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. 2%

At least some of the items on the list have been confirmed as urban legends. A spokesman for Liverpool City Council commenting on the third item stated "It's something that has been heard of before and does crop up from time to time, but it is absurd... It is a myth and totally made up. It has no basis in fact".


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  This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
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