50 verified laws from United States, each checked against the statute and sourced.
Bergen County, New Jersey is one of the last places in the United States where it is illegal to sell clothing, furniture, appliances, and other 'non-essential' goods on Sundays, under a state statute known as the Blue Law. The law has been repeatedly upheld by county voters and remains actively enforced today.
A widely shared internet claim states that women in Seattle must place a pillow between themselves and their lover's lap when sitting on them on buses or trains, or face six months in jail. No such law has ever been found in Seattle's municipal code.
This is frequently cited as the pinnacle of legislative absurdity—a landlocked state banning whaling. However, the Oklahoma legislature never specifically banned whale hunting. The state statute simply adopts the federal endangered species list by reference, which includes various whale species.
Despite widespread internet claims, extensive searches of the Code of Alabama, Kentucky Revised Statutes, and Official Code of Georgia Annotated reveal no such statute. This is pure legal folklore.
The popular story claims a merchant's donkey, sleeping in a tub, was washed away in a 1924 flood requiring a costly rescue, prompting the town to ban the practice. Legal databases and historians have failed to find any such statute in Arizona law or the ordinances of Kingman, AZ.
No Alaska statute specifically makes it illegal to wake a sleeping bear to take a photograph. The statute usually cited for the claim, AS 16.05.783, is titled 'Same day airborne hunting' and governs shooting wolves and wolverines after being airborne. The claim has a real legal kernel, though: AS 16.05.940 defines 'take' to include 'in any manner disturbing' game, and AS 16.05.920 prohibits taking game unless permitted, so deliberately waking a bear - for a photo or anything else - can be prosecuted as an unlawful take.
Under Delaware Code Title 13, Chapter 15, Section 1506(a)(6), Delaware courts shall enter a decree of annulment when one or both parties entered into the marriage "as a jest or dare." The aggrieved spouse must file for annulment within 90 days of discovering the true nature of the marriage.
Vermont's Constitution, Chapter I, Article III, states that while citizens have freedom of religious conscience, those holding elected office must acknowledge belief in a Supreme Being. The language technically creates a prohibition on publicly denying God's existence, particularly as it relates to fitness for public office.
TRUE! No person shall bring or possess live snakes or reptiles within 200 yards of a Mardi Gras parade route, from 2 hours before until 1 hour after the parade.
TRUE! Idaho is unique in having a specific statute that names and defines cannibalism as its own crime. Other states would prosecute it under murder or abuse of corpse laws.
TRUE! It is unlawful to take waste kitchen grease when containers are labeled indicating unauthorized removal is prohibited. Also illegal: placing fraudulent ownership labels on grease containers.
TRUE! It is illegal to order food to be delivered to another person's residence without their consent, with the intent to harass.