Weird Uk laws

If you had the power to change one law, what would it be and why?

I’m going to inject a little humour into this prompt and I’ll tell you why. People see prompts such as this and then go into full dive mode to dig out a law that they disagree with, some rightly so others just because they have fallen foul maybe, and the rest just because it doesn’t fit with how they think it should be.

And then the arguments begin.

Here in the Uk and probably in a lot of other countries around the world, we have a whole load of laws still in place going back to times long past. It’s just like that drawer full of junk you have at home, no one ever has the time to open it up and get rid of all the clutter.

British law is sometimes just like that.

I’m not going to suggest any changes to the law, I’m just going to highlight a small selection of the weird and wonderful ones still in force today.

Here are a few that made me smile. They are still on the statute books, however i suspect they are rarely acted upon these days.

• It’s illegal to linger after a funeral – A chap buried his wife in 2015 and waited an extra 20 minutes after the funeral as he was in no rush to leave. He ended up with a £160 fine! Apparently the law is there to stop gravediggers being prevented from doing their work
• It’s an offence to handle a Salmon and look suspicious – WTF! See what i mean about strange laws. Under section 32 of the Salmon act 1986 this covers the suspicious handling of fish, and was aimed at preventing people selling fish through illegal means.
• It’s illegal to be drunk in a pub – well I’m a convicted felon if this is the case. I must admit i have managed to get away with being arrested for many years now so i suspect this is one of those laws that are pretty much defunct now. The law that covers this is the Metropolitan act of 1839.
• It’s an offence to be drunk in charge of a cow – the licensing act of 1872 forbids anyone to be in charge of a cow in an intoxicated state on any highway. (I have not been found guilty of this yet, Cows are hard to find in the city)

And the list could go on and on, there are literally hundreds of these old outdated laws still on the statute books today.

But i doubt anyone really falls foul of them nowadays.

Hope this shaped your wonderful faces into a smile…

Have a super day everyone, peace to you all.