November 16, 2015
Judge Tom
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Are these laws for real?

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Once in a while you read about some law that just doesn’t seem real. With today’s love affair with reality shows, blogs and tweets, there’s always someone posting about a crazy rule or statute that you’d bet was made up or, at least, unenforced. We ran across a list of such weird laws and decided to check them out on WestLaw Next, a reputable legal research site used across the country by lawyers and judges. To read the law for yourself, google the name of the state and section number. For example, “Alaska law 04.16.030.”

These laws are currently on the books (as of 2015) in the named state.

Alaska statute 04.16.030 prohibits drunk persons from entering or remaining in a bar and continuing to drink.

California Fish and Game section  6883 states that if a frog dies or is killed while participating in a frog-jumping contest, it may not be eaten or used for any purpose.

Idaho law 18-5003 regards cannibalism: “Any person who wilfully ingests the flesh or blood of a human being is guilty of cannibalism,” unless it was done  under “extreme life-threatening conditions as the only apparent means of survival.”  Punishment includes prison up to 14 years.

Minnesota law 343.36 is about pig wrestling.  “No person shall operate, run or participate in a contest, game, or other like activity, in which a pig, greased, oiled or otherwise, is released and wherein the object is the capture of the pig, or in which a chicken or turkey is released or thrown into the air and wherein the object is the capture of the chicken or turkey.”  Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor.
Mississippi has law number 97-29-47 that says “If any person shall profanely swear or curse, or use vulgar and indecent language, or be drunk in any public place, in the presence of two (2) or more persons, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) or be imprisoned in the county jail not more than thirty (30) days or both.”
Photo by davidsonscott15  (Flickr)

 

Judge Tom

The Author Judge Tom

Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing) and 'Every Vote Matters: the Power of Your Voice, from Student Elections to the Supreme Court' (Free Spirit Publishing). When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom volunteers with the American Red Cross and can be found hiking, traveling and reading.

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