Only in Texas: Outdated & Ridiculous Laws That Make Us Laugh

Did you know…

• It is Texas law that when two trains meet each other at a railroad crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed until the other has gone.
• Texas law forbids anyone to have a pair of pliers in his possession.
• It is illegal for children to have silly haircuts in Texas.
• Would you believe that it is illegal to spit on your laundry on Texas?
• A city ordinance states that a person cannot go barefoot without first obtaining a special five-dollar permit.
• A recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed.
• In Austin, it is illegal to carry wire cutters in your pocket.
• In Galveston, it is illegal to drive a motor car down Broadway before noon on Sundays.
• If you went to church in Texas years back, you’d better be recognizable. An old law made it illegal to go to church in disguise.
• In Houston you cannot buy beer after midnight on Sunday, but you can buy it on Monday.
• In Texas it’s legal for a chicken to have sex with you, but it’s illegal to reciprocate.
  
• It is illegal for one to shoot a buffalo from the second story of a hotel.
  
• It is illegal to carry a pair of wire-cutters in your back pocket.
• It is illegal to drive without windshield wipers. You don’t need a windshield, but you must have the wipers.
• It is illegal for a person to shoot a buffalo from the second story of their hotel.
  
• It is illegal to have an open container in a car.
  
• It is illegal to have anything protruding from your bumper unless it is attached with a chain
• It is illegal to milk another person’s cow.
• It is illegal to spit on the sidewalk.
  
• It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing.
  
• It is illegal to urinate on the Alamo.
  
• It is legal for a husband to beat his wife as long as he uses something no bigger than his thumb.
  
• It is legal for the blind to go hunting as long as they have someone with them who isn’t blind.
  
• It is legal to commit a homicide as long as you tell the person when, and how you are going to kill them.
• In Texas any artificial constructed underwater barrier reefs must come with an instruction booklet.
• In Texas, sixteen-year old divorced girls are prohibited from talking about sex during high school extracurricular activities.
• Temple: No one may ride a horse and buggy through the town square. You can ride your horse in the saloon. Cattle thieves may be hanged on the spot.
• Texarkana: Owners of horses may not ride them at night without tail lights.
• The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home.  Does that mean Google is banned too?
• There is an old law in Texas that states you are unable to tuck your pants into one boot unless you own ten or more cattle.
• You can be legally married by publicly introducing a person as your husband or wife 3 times.  Although that is in the process of being changed in favor of an anti-gay common law.
  

Texas isn’t alone… from the BBC:

The UK’s top 10 most ridiculous British laws were listed as:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down
3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store
4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned
5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter
6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman’s helmet
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen
8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour
10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow

The top 10 bizarre foreign laws as voted by those polled:

1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk
2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation
3. A male doctor in Bahrain can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror
4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm
5. It is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle in Alabama
6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed
7. Women in Vermont must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth
8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits
9. There is no age of consent in Japan
10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon