90 verified laws filed under Public Behavior, each checked against the statute and sourced.
Oshawa's City Trees By-law (78-2008) makes it illegal to climb, damage, or interfere with trees on City-owned public land. The widely-shared claim that climbing ANY tree in Oshawa is illegal is an exaggeration — the restriction only applies to municipally-owned trees.
Arkansas has a real, still-active law codifying the official pronunciation of its name as 'AR-kan-saw,' passed in 1881. However, the law carries absolutely no penalty and has never been enforced — making the popular claim that mispronunciation is 'illegal' a significant overstatement.
Under Section 12 of the Licensing Act 1872, it is a criminal offence to be found drunk on any licensed premises in England and Wales — including pubs, bars, and beer gardens. The law is still on the statute books today, though it is rarely enforced.
The claim that peacocks are banned from crossing roads in parts of California is false. If anything, California municipalities have laws protecting peacocks — not restricting their movement.
A federal law (18 U.S.C. § 700) makes it illegal to burn, mutilate, or desecrate the American flag — but two landmark Supreme Court rulings have rendered it nearly unenforceable as political protest, finding that such acts are protected symbolic speech under the First Amendment.
Generations of Texans have grown up believing it is illegal to pick the state flower, the bluebonnet — but no such law exists. The Texas State Law Library, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Snopes have all confirmed this is a persistent folk myth.
There is no federal law making dumpster diving illegal in the United States. The 1988 Supreme Court ruling in California v. Greenwood actually established that discarded trash in public spaces has no privacy protection — but local ordinances in certain cities and counties can and do restrict the practice.
It is not illegal to talk to wild dolphins in the US: the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 contains no ban on verbal communication. What it does prohibit is feeding, chasing, touching, or using sounds to lure them, all of which count as harassment. NOAA recommends watching wild dolphins from at least 50 yards.
Thailand's Identity Card Act B.E. 2526 (1983) legally requires Thai nationals aged 7–70 to possess and carry their national ID card, and failure to produce it upon official request is punishable — but only by a modest fine of up to ฿200, not arrest.
Mexico's federal Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem (1984) explicitly prohibits altering the words or music of the national anthem and performing it without the required solemnity. Violators face fines, up to 36 hours arrest, and in commercial cases, much steeper financial penalties — and the law has genuinely been enforced.
A circulating claim alleges that photographing a sunset in Greece requires a permit from the local municipality. No such law exists — Greek law explicitly permits photography in public open-air spaces without a permit.
The claim that Johannesburg has a municipal bylaw making it illegal to use more than a certain number of plastic bags per shopping transaction is false. No such law exists at any level of South African government.