Column Chronicles: More strange laws throughout the world

More strange laws throughout the world

Frank Cotolo
October 4, 2018

Here we go again. Just when we think we have uncovered every strange law on the books in every country, along come more discoveries. Every civilized country has laws on the books that are simply weird. Most of the weird laws have origins no one seems to recall but the laws remain enforceable. Over the decades I have collected many of these laws and here are some from around the world that I have not written about previously.

In Hong Kong, nothing made of straw can be ground into an ingredient for food sold to the public.

Oslo residents - not tourists - must pay a stiff fine for drawing stick figures with chalk on side streets.

Madrid prohibits plastic propellers on hats in public.

No resident of Jerusalem is allowed to sing Barbra Streisand-written songs on a holy day.

Cincinnati, Ohio, has a stiff penalty for anyone who straps an uncooked rack of lamb on his or her back and attempts to scale a building.

Buenos Aires is technically closed on Tuesdays.

Miami, Florida, will fine any person over the age of 68 for leaving a movie theater from the rear exit door.

It is illegal and punishable by fine or jail time or public service tasks, to file to incorporate a business Saturdays between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. in Brisbane.

Monkeys may not be taught to dance the tango in a Portugal city with a population exceeding four thousand.

Under no circumstances can a resident of Stanford, Connecticut pretend to roller skate in public.

Tokyo laws specifically designed to allow any number of people in a single train car demand that any passenger wearing silk pants be the first to exit at a designated stop.

New York City will fine any resident from a borough other than Manhattan if that person or persons insists upon making a competition by using revolving doors in any building where businesses thrive or fail under the provisions of success and failure in Manhattan.

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.