16 verified laws filed under Historical/Repealed, each checked against the statute and sourced.
France did make every driver carry an unused breathalyser from 1 July 2012, but the promised fine was postponed twice and deleted on the morning it was due to start, and the obligation itself was repealed on 22 May 2020. No French driver has to carry one today.
In approximately 14 U.S. states, selling or buying a car at a dealership on a Sunday is explicitly prohibited by law. These restrictions are remnants of colonial-era 'Blue Laws' and remain actively enforced today.
Utah's disorderly conduct law once included 'abusive or obscene language' as a punishable offense, but that provision was struck down by courts and removed from state law in 1999. Today, casual public swearing is not a crime under Utah state law, though some municipal ordinances can restrict profanity when it rises to the level of a breach of the peace.
The Metropolitan Police Act 1839 prohibits "wilfully and wantonly disturbing any inhabitant by pulling or ringing any door-bell or knocking at any door without lawful excuse." This confirms that the prank known as "Knock Down Ginger" or "Ding Dong Ditch" was a sufficiently widespread social plague in 1839 to warrant parliamentary intervention.
The Metropolitan Police Act 1839 prohibits making or using "any slide upon ice or snow in any street or other thoroughfare, to the common danger of the passengers." This targeted the practice of street urchins polishing patches of ice to create slides.
City of Toronto historians and bylaw officers have found no reference to this specific prohibition in the archives of the six municipalities that amalgamated to form Toronto. The claim is legal folklore, not actual law.
The Metropolitan Police Act 1839 explicitly penalizes any person who "shall fly any kite or play at any game to the annoyance of the inhabitants or passengers" in London thoroughfares. This Victorian-era law remains technically in force today.
REPEALED! It was illegal to make, print, publish, distribute, sell, or possess "a crime comic"—defined as a magazine that "exclusively or substantially comprises matter depicting pictorially the commission of crimes, real or fictitious."
STILL ACTIVE (Symbolic)! Bylaw 771 prohibits the manufacture, testing, storage, or deployment of nuclear weapons within municipal boundaries—though municipalities have no constitutional authority over federal defense matters.
The Statute forbidding Bearing of Armour decrees that no person may come to Parliament or any other Assembly in the Realm of England wearing any "Force and Armour." The statute applies to all members and visitors to Parliament and makes wearing a full suit of armor an offense.
REPEALED! Canada banned margarine from 1886 to 1948, apart from a wartime lapse from 1917 to 1923. After the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban, provinces prohibited yellow-coloured margarine to protect dairy farmers. Quebec was the last holdout until 2008.
REPEALED 2018! It was an offense to "pretend to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration." This anti-fraud provision was repealed by Bill C-51.