Dumb law?

[Alidar Jarok]

I would say any laws that try to restrain what you say on the Internet would qualify as "dumb."

I think any censorship laws are dumb. Also, any laws that restrict personal freedom, such as anti-marriage laws, anti-prostitution laws, some anti-drug laws and so on, are dumb.

While I'm not expressing any view on the issue, wouldn't you have to say all drug laws to be consistent?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

People might be surprised at just how important common law marriage can be in the U.S.

Someone close to me worked for years as a benefits authorizer at the Social Security Administration. Now, the SSA is very responsible and meticulous - for example, if they have money due you and you don't claim it they're required to make substantial efforts to find you. It's not as if they're supposed to just sit on it unless you come forward and file.

Anyway, a pretty common occurrence in those days - and I imagine far more common now - was for the survivor of a couple who were not formally married to come to the office to file for survivor benefits. It was the job of the authorizer to disburse that money if at all legally possible, and one thing they'd do would be to read the surviving partner a list of states that recognized common law marriage. "Did you ever spend a night under the same roof in..." and they'd read the list (I never asked, but I assume the exact requirements varied some from state to state).

An affirmative made the survivor a common law spouse and entitled to survivor benefits.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Did a Google search and found these, From various places around the globe.
Georgia has a law prohibiting people from saying "Oh boy" in public
Sam Becket is Screwed!


Canadian Dumb Laws
It is illegal to kill a sasquatch.

Every fifth song on Canadian radio must be by a Canadian born citizen.

The CRTC SUCKS ASS!

 

[Miss Chicken]

I looked up to see if I could find details of the law concerning the Sasquatch and found this at what I would consider an authoritative site (Courthouse Libraries BC)

It says

Is there a law in B.C. that makes it illegal to kill a sasquatch?

To date, librarians at the Courthouse Library have not been able to find any references to a Sasquatch or Sasquatches (or the creature by any other name) in any BC Statute.

However, we have discovered that the myth may have originated in Nanaimo at the turn of the 20th century.

The Best of Sasquatch Bigfoot by John Green (p. 90) contains an article originally printed in the Colonist. The article quotes a letter where the writer is asking the Government Agent at the time (Marshall Bray) for permission to shoot the "wild man of Horne Lake". The article then states, "Bray has informed Kincaid that it is unlawful to shoot Mowglies within the province of British Columbia at any time."

Despite what the article says, it is unclear what Bray's actual written response to this letter was, and to which law he might have been referring.

http://www.courthouselibrary.ca/research/AskedandAnswered/AskedandAnsweredItem.aspx?Id=1046

So it would seem that there is no real evidence that such a law exists.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

I looked up to see if I could find details of the law concerning the Sasquatch and found this at what I would consider an authoritative site (Courthouse Libraries BC)

It says

Is there a law in B.C. that makes it illegal to kill a sasquatch?

To date, librarians at the Courthouse Library have not been able to find any references to a Sasquatch or Sasquatches (or the creature by any other name) in any BC Statute.

However, we have discovered that the myth may have originated in Nanaimo at the turn of the 20th century.

The Best of Sasquatch Bigfoot by John Green (p. 90) contains an article originally printed in the Colonist. The article quotes a letter where the writer is asking the Government Agent at the time (Marshall Bray) for permission to shoot the "wild man of Horne Lake". The article then states, "Bray has informed Kincaid that it is unlawful to shoot Mowglies within the province of British Columbia at any time."

Despite what the article says, it is unclear what Bray's actual written response to this letter was, and to which law he might have been referring.

http://www.courthouselibrary.ca/research/AskedandAnswered/AskedandAnsweredItem.aspx?Id=1046

So it would seem that there is no real evidence that such a law exists.

Still the Title catches your eye to the link of the page for dumb Canadian laws,

 

[RJDiogenes]

I would say any laws that try to restrain what you say on the Internet would qualify as "dumb."

I think any censorship laws are dumb. Also, any laws that restrict personal freedom, such as anti-marriage laws, anti-prostitution laws, some anti-drug laws and so on, are dumb.

While I'm not expressing any view on the issue, wouldn't you have to say all drug laws to be consistent?

No, because some drugs are so toxic that they should be regulated. But something innocuous like marijuana should be legal. And Demerol. Demerol should definitely be legal. Demerol party at my house when our Demerol rights are recognized.

 

[ares93]

^ You do know that Demerol is a hospital grade analgesic, right? That's not stuff you wanna play around with.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Also, you seem to be in favor of restricting personal freedom to poison oneself if one chose to do so.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Pretty much, yeah.

^ You do know that Demerol is a hospital grade analgesic, right? That's not stuff you wanna play around with.

I'm very familiar with it. Multiple kidney stones. It's the good stuff.

 

[23skidoo]

" (In Iceland) Students are legally required to learn both Danish and English at school" - (yes, it is compulsory)

Is it just me or are there other people who think that this is actually a very sensible law?

I don't see a problem with it, in theory, however forcing a population to something can come back and bite you. I was in elementary school in the late 1970s-early 1980s, and around that time the school board in my city instituted mandatory French in elementary school from either Grade 5 or 6 (I forget which) to Grade 8 (in my part of Canada there's no junior high - elementary goes K-8, then high school 9-12). And the kids (and parents) were so negative about that that it was a total waste of time for the poor bugger who was brought in to teach it. No one paid attention, they made "frog jokes" like there was no tomorrow - it was a mess. I got high Bs, low As basically due to the fact I didn't act up in class because I wasn't wired that way (though I resented being forced to take it as much as the next guy).

When I went into high school after graduating elementary French became optional. I took it thinking I'd do well because I did so well in elementary. And I found out I'd learned absolutely nothing and scraped by with Ds and dropped it thereafter.

I'll never forget being asked to write, in French, a book report. I was one of the first kids in my school to use a word processor for filing reports (this was 1983) and I got a 10% mark ("for effort, otherwise would be zero" was the notation), and the comment that nearly 30 years later I've never forgotten: "This looks like it was not only written on a computer, but by one" and then some stuff saying it's clear I didn't know French. This was after taking it in elementary school for THREE years previously. And I was straight As in everything else. For the sake of my GPA (or the Saskatchewan equivalent thereof) I dropped French at first opportunity and never went back. I don't really feel my life is that much poorer. At age 42 I'm beyond the point of being able to learn a new language properly, but if I were forced at gunpoint I'd probably want to learn Japanese before French anyway.

My point being forcing anyone to do something is very risky. Which makes a law the this one not necessarily "dumb" but potentially "unwise" depending on how it's rolled out to the people.

Alex

 

[spooky spice]

Not a dumb law but I'm always amazed how many people in the UK think there is such a thing as a "common law wife/husband" and that they have legal rights because of this mythical status.

Modern laws allow that if you live together then depending on the amount of time you have done so, both parties are entitled to the joint possessions accrued during that time together, should they part. Common law is as good an epithet for this as anything. You should know that usage makes the meaning in language.

I knew a woman [in Scotland] who was a right leech, she'd find a guy whom she considered to be "well off", move in with him for the required amount of time to legally be considered his Common Law Wife (six months I believe it was at the time), then take him to the cleaners in a 'divorce'... AFAIK none of her 'husbands' was ever able to legally say "hold on, she can't take my furniture, we weren't married!!".