We should require them to delete two for every new one they make.

Any motorist driving along a country road at night must stop every mile and send up a rocket signal, wait 10 minutes for the road to be cleared of livestock, and continue.

A special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug in a dwelling.

You may not sing in the bathtub.

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/pennsylvania




I suppose that there was some reason for all of these, but it seems overkill to legislate most of these. However, I am not sure why anyone would want to polish silverware with poisonous cyanide, but it sounds like something that should be illegal everywhere.

For example, I imagine the prohibition on cleaning fish while in a boat is because people are then likely to throw the inedible parts overboard.

The prohibition of nailing things to a utility pole is to protect utility workers who may have to climb a pole. Not only can the nail injure them, but it could cause electric shocks.

Many of the absurd laws are simply 150 year old laws that were never officially removed from the books.

for every law that went on the books. But sometimes there is no reason for a law since the instances of abuse are so few.

It is like a city putting a law on the books that all houses must be painted white, simply because one person paints their house hot pink. Yes, the hot pink is a little much, especially for the neighbors who have to look at it all the time...but does it really require a law imposed to keep it from happening? This is what happens too often. Yet, we can't get an education law to cover charter schools the same as public schools. And we can't cut the size of the legislature. And we can't get them to stop per diem payments without receipts.

That one's a puzzler. The nails in the telephone pole makes sense - yet another hazard for line workers.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=288510

People tend to forget, Lead was a very common metal for it was and is cheap. Early bras would have used lead to cover the nipple instead of plastic, which is used today., Thus the law was passed to solve a problem, AND the problem was solved by the law, thus the law sounds stupid today.

PDF of first page of a 1936 follow up report:

For example, the one saying that it's a crime to open a fire hydrant without permission. It should be a crime. Fire hydrants are there for fire companies to use in putting out fires. Philadelphia has often had problems with people opening hydrants for kids to cool down in the spray in the summer. This can reduce the water pressure and cause problems if there's a fire.