The strangest laws in the world
Take a look at some of the strangest
laws in the world, and decide if you think any of them would work here in KZN:
1. In the remote Arctic town of Longyearbyen, dying is against the law. Actually, this is because it was found that bodies didn’t decompose in the permafrost. The graveyard stopped accepting newcomers 70 years ago; so if you fall gravely ill there now, you will be hastily dispatched by plane to the mainland, where you can end your days without getting arrested.
2. Ever thought that chewing gum could land you in jail? Well, in Singapore, it has been completely illegal since 1992. The only exception is nicotine gum, but even then smokers can only get it from a pharmacy with a prescription. Chewing gum is legal in New York, of course, but cinema owners there must chisel all gum off the undersides of their auditorium seats every month. Makes trodden-in popcorn seem positively pleasant.
3. When dining at a restaurant in Denmark, you don’t have to pay for your food unless, by your own opinion, you are ‘full’ at the end of your meal. A wafer-thin mint, sir?
4. You are forbidden to be fat in Japan. Although their country already has one of the world’s lowest obesity rates (less than 5 per cent, in contrast to the USA’s 35 per cent), that didn’t stop Japanese lawmakers from setting a maximum waistline size in 2009. Every man aged 40 and over must not have a waist measuring 80cm or above, every woman, 90cm or above. And this from the land that brought us sumo wrestling…
5. In Denmark, you legally have to check under your car for children who may be sleeping there before you start the engine. But don’t panic too much if you forget and get thrown in jail for running over some catnapping kids – in Denmark it is not against the law to escape from prison.
6. You must plan your movements very carefully in Switzerland. Flushing the toilet after 10pm in an apartment building is illegal there. The Government curiously considered noise pollution to be more anti-social than olfactory pollution. Not sure we agree with them on that one. Anyway, whether you relieve yourself and leave the flat humming, or you just wait until morning, the choice is completely yours.
7. Drinking a lot is confusing enough without having to remember a myriad of boozing bylaws. For example, in St Louis you can’t drink beer while sitting on a city street, but in Chicago you can be arrested for drinking standing up anywhere in the city. You cannot be served wine in a teacup in Topeka, Kansas; while in Cleveland, no more than one person may sip from a whisky bottle. Saskatchewan in Canada at least has the rights of the drinker at its civic heart – it is against the law to drink water in beer parlours there.
8. In Utah you can marry your cousin, but only if you are both over the age of 65. Because, you know, when you turn 65 you’re known to have impeccable judgment.
Share any weird laws you may know with us.