History Main / LoonyLaws

* There is at least one book devoted to this subject, ''You May Not Tie an Alligator to a Fire Hydrant: 101 Real Dumb Laws''.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The titular town was founded by (ex-) President Quentin Trembley, and his lunacy was reflected with such things as a law that allowed humans to marry woodpeckers and the "Finders Keepers" Law (which essentially meant that: as long as you have physical possession of an object, it is legally yours;[[note]]This first part is not actually that dumb, provided that the property's owner does not exercise their right to recover their property for a significant period of time; it's actually very common in law systems around the world, being called "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession adverse possession]]" in UsefulNotes/CommonLaw countries, and "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usucaption usucaption]]" or equivalent in civil law ones.[[/note]] and if someone else comes along and steals it, it is legally ''theirs''--even if you could legally prove that they stole it from you, if you can't steal it back, then well... "losers weepers"). This latter one provides a pretty big source of drama during the first season finale.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[TheCaligula Chancellor Puddinghead]] may have been responsible for a few; according to the ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' special "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsForgottenFriendship Forgotten Friendship]]", she tried to pass a law mandating earth ponies to drink carrot juice at every meal.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[TheCaligula Chancellor Puddinghead]] may have been responsible for a few; according to the ''[[Franchise/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'' special "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsForgottenFriendship Forgotten Friendship]]", she tried to pass a law mandating earth ponies to drink carrot juice at every meal.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[TheCaligula Chancellor Puddinghead]] may have been responsible for a few; notably, she tried to pass a law mandating earth ponies to drink carrot juice at every meal.

* On ''Series/AmericasDumbestCriminals,'' these would be called "Dumb Laws".

** In Denmark, one law says that you are required to check that all important features in your car are working properly before driving. That means checking lights, brakes, steering wheel and honking your horn. Another law says that it's illegal to use your horn under any circumstances, and using it results in a 2000DKK fine.
*** Yet another stupid law in Denmark: Attempting to break out of jail is not illegal, and if you're caught, you are merely required to carry out the remainder of your sentence. But if you manage to make it out of the prison, you are legally considered a free person, and cannot be arrested unless you commit another crime.
** As Creator/TerryPratchett [[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!original/alt.fan.pratchett/L83uyQMW6tI/62UOILYwdhYJ once put it]], when magazines and websites say things like "In Speedtrap, Nebraska, it is illegal to shoot giraffes on a Sunday" what they probably ''mean'' is "Speedtrap has no local rule about shooting giraffes but probably does have some perfectly ordinary public order laws, under which some drunken circus owner was once prosecuted".

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The titular town was founded by (ex-) President Quentin Trembley, and his lunacy was reflected with such things as a law that allowed humans to marry woodpeckers and the "Finders Keepers" Law (which essentially meant that: as long as you have physical possession of an object, it is legally yours;[[note]]This first part is not actually that dumb, provided that the property's owner does not exercise their right to recover their property for a significant period of time; it's actually very common in law systems around the world, being called "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_possession adverse possession]] in UsefulNotes/CommonLaw countries, and "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usucaption usucaption]]" or equivalent in civil law ones.[[/note]] and if someone else comes along and steals it, it is legally ''theirs''--even if you could legally prove that they stole it from you, if you can't steal it back, then well... "losers weepers"). This latter one provides a pretty big source of drama during the first season finale.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The titular town was founded by (ex-) President Quentin Trembley, and his lunacy was reflected with such things as a law that allowed humans to marry woodpeckers and the "Finders Keepers" Law (which essentially meant that; as long as you have physical possession of an object, it is legally yours; and if someone else comes along and steals it, it is legally ''theirs''--even if you could legally prove that they stole it from you, if you can't steal it back, then well... "losers weepers"). This latter one provides a pretty big source of drama during the first season finale.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E14TheSevenBeerSnitch The Seven Beer Snitch]]", Homer is arrested for kicking five times into an old can that he found on the floor... [[{{Irony}} because he wasn't accepted for a prison guard job at the Mr. Burns-owned private prison he is to serve his sentence on]]. Another law that makes it unlawful to be in public without hats is also mentioned, and they are all mentioned in a compendium of silly laws. It must be mentioned that they were only enforcing these laws to fill up Mr. Burns's prison.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E18HomerVsTheEighteenthAmendment Homer Vs. the Eighteenth Amendment]]", the punishment for disobeying Springfield's prohibition law is to be launched out of the city by catapult.

*** Yet another stupid law in Denmark: Attempting to break out of jail is illegal, and can get your sentence increased. ''Succeeding'' at breaking out of jail is perfectly legal, and if done, the police cannot arrest the escapist until he/she commits another crime.

* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Judge Cal passes a number of ridiculous laws during [[TheCaligula his insane term as Chief Judge]], such as outlawing happiness. Sometimes he got more creative:

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'': The Queen of Hearts was defined by being a woman [[TheCaligula that had to be obeyed on every single little whimsical law she made on the spot, even the ones that make no sense]], and ''every single crime'', no matter how small, all had the same sentence: beheading (thankfully the King pardoned everyone when her back was turned, a fact omitted from the Disney version). When Alice first arrives to her kingdom, she meets a group of guards that are rushing to paint every rose on the garden red (they were white), because she just woke up in the morning hating them being white (and made them illegal). During Alice's judgement later on the book, the Queen kept on making things Alice did while defending herself illegal on the spot (and, again, kept calling for her beheading for each transgression).

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* On ''Series/AmericasDumbestCriminals,'' these would be called "Dumb Laws."

-->It's laissez-faire,\\

And give every new baby a chocolate éclair

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': in the adventure X3 ''Curse of Xanathon'', the title curse causes the Duke of Rhoona to proclaim several odd laws, such as "All taxes must be paid in beer", "All riders must sit backwards on their horses" and "Horses can only be fed meat".
* ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}''; in Mechanus, the natives are so obsessed with laws, that you can be arrested for things like singing in a place where it isn't allowed - at a specific time of day. Regulus, the home of the modrons, is the worst. An introductory adventure involves the PlayerCharacters being arrested for ''wearing the wrong color'' and sentenced to a community service task that will clearly take ten years to do. (If they successfully help the supervisor fight off some invading chaos imps, they can get the sentence reduced to time served.)

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* When UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell came into power after the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, he introduced laws (amongst others) that banned eating mince pies on the 25th of December and several other Christmas traditions, due to the Puritan desire to purge Christian religious festivals of "pagan" and "Catholic" elements.

* The ''Webcomic/{{Oglaf}}'' strip [[http://oglaf.com/assorted-fruits/ "Assorted Fruits of Wrath"]] has a crusading army get blown away by its own god for violating a scriptural law about not opening the wrong end of a banana (no mention of which end that is).

* TruthInTelevision: a quick Google search for "crazy laws" will inform you that it is illegal to forget your wife's birthday in Samoa, among other things.
* When UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell came into power after the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, he introduced laws (amongst others) that banned eating mince pies on the 25th of December and several other Christmas traditions.

* There is at least one book devoted to this subject, ''You May Not Tie an Alligator to a Fire Hydrant: 101 Real Dumb Laws''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Homer Vs. the 18th Amendment", the punishment for disobeying Springfield's prohibition law is to be launched out of the city by catapult.

* When UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell came into power after the English Civil War, he introduced laws (amongst others) that banned eating mince pies on the 25th of December and several other Christmas traditions.

* ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'': The Queen of Hearts was defined by being a woman [[TheCaligula that had to be obeyed on every single little whimsical law she made on the spot, even the ones that make no sense]], and ''every single crime'', no matter how small, all had the same sentence: beheading. When Alice first arrives to her kingdom, she meets a group of guards that are rushing to paint every rose on the garden red (they were white), because she just woke up in the morning hating them being white (and made them illegal). During Alice's judgement later on the book, the Queen kept on making things Alice did while defending herself illegal on the spot (and, again, kept calling for her beheading for each transgression).

And give every new baby a chocolate eclaire

* When UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell came into power after the English Civil War, he introduced laws amongst others) that banned eating mince pies on the 25th of December and several other Christmas traditions.

-->'''Cal''': "I have today passed a law to maintain public order! Deputy Chief Judge Fish will announce it!"
-->'''Fish''': "Bloop!"
-->'''Cal''': "You have heard the law. The penalty for disobedience is death!"

-->'''Esposito''': From this day on, the official language of San Marcos [in Latin America] will be Swedish. Silence! In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half-hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now... 16 years old!
-->'''Fielding Mellish''': What's the Spanish word for straitjacket?

* ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'' by Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast has so many strange laws and rituals that by the time someone has become its Earl they are probably quite insane themselves. So the laws and rituals become more insane. Gormenghast is the CrapsackWorld logical extreme of this trope.

-->It's laissez-faire,
-->I don't even give a care;
-->Let's make Friday part of the weekend
-->And give every new baby a chocolate eclaire

* The post-apocalyptic New Quahog in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' was briefly ruled by Peter, who, among other things, randomly assigned duties from a "job hat" and not based on expertise...
-->"Oooh, village idiot! That's a good one! On Tuesdays you get to wave your penis at traffic!"

* When Oliver Cromwell came into power after the English Civil War, he introduced laws amongst others) that banned eating mince pies on the 25th of December and several other Christmas traditions.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance''. Insofar that it was a game mechanic. Judges oversee every battle to ensure that you don't break some arbitrary law that changes every other battle.

* The song "King of Spain" by MoxyFruvous has a mild (and relatively benevolent) example:

* The song "King of Spain" by Moxy Fruvous has a mild (and relatively benevolent) example:

* ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'' by Mervyn Peake - Gormenghast has so many strange laws and rituals that by the time someone has become it's Earl they are probably quite insane themselves. So the laws and rituals become more insane. Gormenghast is the Crapsack World logical extreme of this trope.

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!!Indices: CrimeAndPunishmentTropes, MadnessTropes