Top Ten International Dumb Laws

5. In Canada, you can’t water your lawn if it’s raining outside.

If I had to guess why this law was probably created, I would say it’s to reduce the wasting of water. However, it’s just one of those laws where you just have to ask: why? Why would anyone want to water their lawn while it was raining? Seems like unnecessary effort to me.

4. Switzerland declares it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10pm. Also, in Switzerland, it’s illegal for a man to urinate standing up after 10pm.

The toilette flushing thing is, most likely, to reduce noise pollution and water consumption. However, it makes things tricky if you’re pregnant and running to the toilet at all hours of the night with morning sickness.

As for the second law, I can only guess it was enacted to prevent sleepy men from hitting their heads on something in the bathroom while relieving themselves – or, more crudely, to prevent a mess. Regardless, this law just seems a little intrusive, doesn’t it?

3. When an English person passes away, they must leave all their land to their eldest son.

Image via Wikipedia

This law, it would seem, is possibly derived from the old European Salic Law, which stated that a woman couldn’t inherit property.

The law is still technically in effect today (according to dumblaws.com) and I know it was enforced as late as the eighteen hundreds. After all, an important plot point of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was that Mr. Bennett’s estate wouldn’t pass to his daughters, but to his nephew whom nobody liked. In reality, I imagine that daughters are sometimes the heirs of their parents today – especially if the daughter is thirty and the son is only six.

2. Divorces are illegal in England.

While dumblaws.com still lists this as a law, I can’t imagine it’s still enforced. After all, just look at the queen’s children: all but one have had widely publicized divorces.

1. It’s illegal to name your pig Napoleon in France.

Image via Wikipedia

This law tops it, in my opinion, for “dumb laws” everywhere. And, let us just hope, that this law was passed when Napoleon was still the French emperor. Otherwise, there must be some lawmakers out there who are still very sympathetic to his long-gone cause.

While it’s important to remember that other countries have different cultures and practices which we should respect, you can’t deny: dumb laws are a worldwide epidemic.

If you liked this list, check out the one for Top Ten Dumb Laws of U.S. States.