Column Chronicles: Update on new strange laws throughout the world

Update on new strange laws throughout the world

Frank Cotolo
August 28, 2025

Just when we think we uncovered every strange law on the books in every country, along come more discoveries. Every civilized country has weird laws. Most laws have origins no one recalls but the laws remain enforceable. Here are some laws not reported previously.

In Paris, France, a citizen can be fined up to five hundred francs if using a stale baguette as a weapon.

Wilson County, New York instituted a five percent tax on male bikinis if purchased in any season but summer.

In Canada's Edmonton, Alberta, children over the age of 10 must be accompanied by a parent when purchasing takeout Asian food.

A ruling in Madrid, Spain prohibits the sale of any item to any person between the hours of 5 a.m. and 10 a.m.

High costing fines for driving a car without wheels in a river and calling it a boat have become law in Venice, Italy.

Residents of Hampshire, Great Britain, must produce proof that they have eaten at a pub at least once a month or be fined the price of a Shepherd's Pie from a pub not more than one kilometre from their homes.

No one living in Manitoba, Canada, may engage in sewing competitions and amateur hockey in the same month without expressed permission from the Queen's Sewing Institute.

By 2028 the Canadian government insists that it be essential in all provences to create a Major League Baseball team named after an indigenous North American animal.

In Stewart County, Texas, USA, tourists are forbidden to call any resident a Buckaroo.

Families under the size of nine living in the same house in Whippenshaw, Iowa must register with the state government three times a year if intending to share a house in the following year.

On election days in Shadow, Florida, people over the age of eighty must empty themselves before visiting their polling booths.

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.