As per section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839, flying a kite in a public place is illegal. Photo / Dean Purcell
As per section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act, 1839, flying a kite in a public place is illegal. Photo / Dean Purcell
OPINION:
Small business owners may be grinding their teeth with having to throw cash at their employees for Monday's new public holiday. Nine-to-fivers may be elated in a schadenfreude sense as a result of delaying plans to do anything work-related this week and last. But, they too may have beenstressed after having to frantically sort a weekend away during work hours in haste.
One thing's for sure, the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day Bill passed its third reading in record speed last week. The process just took nine business days! To pay homage to the strange wonders of bureaucracy, legislation, and Queen Elizabeth II, here's a list of some of the peculiar laws to come out of the motherland.
Ordinance Of The Long Parliament Of The Interregnum, 1647
The English Civil Wars between 1642-1651 were horrific for a variety of reasons - namely the estimated 200,000 people that died as a result of the bloodiest of conflicts in the history of the British Isles.
To make matters worse, the Long Parliament of the Interregnum banned all Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun festivals, services, and celebrations inside the home and out. Fines were imposed for non-compliance.
Conjecture sure, but perhaps having the gall to ban festive cheer was the thing that broke the camel's back for parliamentarians or revolutionists on the fence.
Vagrancy Act, 1824
If being homeless wasn't bad enough, it's arguably still an offence to sleep rough or beg for money in England and Wales. Persons committing certain offences were deemed rogues and vagabonds - a person breaking or escaping out of any place of legal confinement is described as an "incorrigible rogue", for example. Grim.
Metropolitan Police Act, 1839
This piece of legislation is an absolute banger and is very much still in effect. As per section 54, flying a kite in a public place is illegal, so too is doing a "ding, dong, ditch". Specifically, "every person who shall wilfully and wantonly disturb any inhabitant by pulling or ringing any doorbell or knocking at any door without lawful excuse, or who shall wilfully and unlawfully extinguish the light of any lamp."
Section 60 also prohibits the act of beating dusty rugs in the street. Seeing as the country was in the height of the industrial revolution - it's strange to think dust and fish, interestingly, were front of mind as opposed to, say, air pollution. It was a different time.
Publicans in the UK weren't allowed to serve drunks.
Uniforms Act, 1894
For those incorrigible rogues or people "not serving in Her Majesty's Naval or Military Forces" that are Stanislavski inclined, dressing up or impersonating military personnel can land themselves in the slammer for up to a month. It's technically only okay to do this with "Her Majesty's" or now "His Majesty's" permission. Be warned thespians, you'll have to stick to Catholic Robes this Halloween.
This law ought to be taken seriously, it's more or less replicated in the Seamen's and Soldiers' False Characters Act 1906 and Police Act 1996. Perhaps this is how Prince Harry got away with dressing up as a Nazi soldier so many moons ago. German-inclined - no problem!
Library Offences Act, 1898 & 2005
Originally it was an offence to gamble in libraries. Interesting choice of premises if that was a person's thing, but each to their own. Gambling in libraries obviously became antiquated as the law was changed to ban annoying or disruptive behaviour.
On the topic of libraries, section 25 of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act, 1985 specifically banned people with a bout of cholera. Pre-pandemic this would seem extreme to deny the public of literature but stranger things have since happened.
Licensing Act, 1872
I'll leave you with the most ironic of laws - the Licensing Act, which prohibits intoxication in pubs. As of 2003, bar staff cannot legally serve drunk people. Talk about putting pub owners between a rock and a hard place. What's more, where's the line? Are breathalysers as freely available as RAT tests? For my sake, I hope not.
