All societies rely on rules, whether written laws or unwritten customs, to maintain order and protect people from harm. Since the earliest civilizations, laws have played a central role in keeping communities functioning safely and fairly.
Some of the earliest legal systems date back thousands of years. Ancient Egypt followed tradition-based rules as early as 3000 B.C., while the first known written laws, the Code of Ur-Nammu, appeared in Mesopotamia in the 22nd century BCE. Babylonian King Hammurabi later codified laws around 1760 BCE. By the time the United States was founded, legal systems were already deeply established worldwide. The first U.S. law, signed by George Washington in 1789, regulated the administration of oaths. Today, there are an estimated 300,000 federal statutes alone.
Beyond federal law, states and local governments enforce countless additional rules. Many are practical and necessary, but others seem outdated or outright absurd. To assemble this list of strange laws across the U.S., 24/7 Tempo consulted legal references and law firm resources. While some laws were enacted for valid reasons at the time, many now appear baffling or redundant. Although some may have since been repealed or applied only in certain areas, all were once legally enforced.
Here are bizarre and absurd laws across the U.S.
It’s against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie
- Where it’s illegal: Kansas
This law is believed to have occurred during the late 1900s, at a time when the Kansas legislature enacted stricter food service laws. Scott Schwab, the Kansas Secretary of State, told USA Today that it was unclear whether or not the law was still on the books – but that in any case it is not enforced.
It’s against the law to buy or sell an infant
- Where it’s illegal: Pennsylvania
According to the statute law enacted in 1972, “A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if he deals in humanity, by trading, bartering, buying, selling, or dealing in newborns”.
It’s against the law to let a donkey sleep in your bathtub
- Where it’s illegal: Arizona
When a dam burst near Kingman in 1924, a donkey, who had for some reason stepped into an abandoned bathtub and gone to sleep, got swept downstream. The animal was saved by locals, but it became apparent to the community that a law was required to prevent this from happening again. (A similar law was passed in South Carolina regarding horses.)
It’s against the law to drive while blindfolded
- Where it’s illegal: Alabama
It’s thought that this law came about due to someone probably driving with obscured sight. It’s not clear why anybody would need a law to keep them from engaging in this particular behavior, but maybe it’s just as well to have been enacted into law.
It’s against the law to bite your landlord
- Where it’s illegal: Rumford, Maine
For some reason, this town of about 6,000 residents on the southwestern side of the state found it necessary to officially prohibit tenants from chomping down on their landlord – and they can’t sic their dog or cat or other pet on the property owner either.
It’s against the law to slurp your soup in public
- Where it’s illegal: New Jersey
The New York Times discovered this prohibition on New Jersey Courts, the official website of the New Jersey judiciary, but the site gives no details on why or when the law was enacted or whether it has ever been enforced. However, according to NJ.com, this archaic rule no longer exists.
It’s against the law to hold public office if you’ve ever fought in a duel
- Where it’s illegal: Tennessee
Considering several contentious events that have taken place recently in the U.S. House of Representatives, maybe this should be a national law: The Tennessee Constitution bars anyone from public office if they have fought in a duel, delivered or accepted a challenge to fight a duel, or serve as “an aider or abettor in fighting a duel.”
It’s against the law to go to a meeting in a hood or mask
- Where it’s illegal: North Carolina
This law passed in 1953 and states that “No person or persons at least 16 years of age shall while wearing a mask, hood or device whereby the person, face or voice is disguised so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, hold any manner of meeting, or make any demonstration upon the private property” without permission. It is said that the law was passed to forestall activities by the Ku Klux Klan.
It’s against the law to wrestle a bear
- Where it’s illegal: Louisiana
If you engage in “a match or contest between one or more persons and a bear for the purpose of fighting or engaging in a physical altercation,” or if you charge admission to a bear fight or buy, sell, or train a bear for combat, you “shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.”
It’s against the law to dye baby chicks or rabbits
- Where it’s illegal: Chicago, IL
A local ordinance in the Windy City makes it illegal to display or sell “living baby chicks, ducklings, goslings, or other fowl or rabbits which have been dyed, colored or otherwise treated so as to impart to them an artificial color.”
It’s against the law to eat fried chicken with a knife and fork
- Where it’s illegal: Gainesville, GA
This town in northern Georgia is the center of a billion-dollar-a-year chicken industry, and styles itself “The Poultry Capital of the World.” They know their yardbirds and declared in an official city proclamation in 1961 that you have to eat fried chicken with your hands – no utensils allowed.
It’s against the law to throw away moose or caribou offal
- Where it’s illegal: Alaska
Hunters who kill a moose or a caribou in the state can’t just eat the steaks and chops and ribs. The Alaska Administrative Code required that “the head, heart, liver, kidneys, stomach and hide of moose” and “the heart, liver, kidneys, and fat of caribou” must be salvaged, and all edible meat must be used for human consumption.
It’s against the law to play dominos on Sunday
- Where it’s illegal: Alabama
The law is part of a broader measure to combat Sunday gambling in Alabama out of respect for those attending services at houses of worship.
It’s against the law to pawn your wheelchair
- Where it’s illegal: Delaware
Title 24 of the Delaware Code forbids pawnbrokers to accept wheelchairs (or artificial limbs). The same law forbids scrap metal dealers from acquiring grave markers or cemetery urns without official authorization.
It’s against the law to eavesdrop
- Where it’s illegal: Oklahoma
Title 21 of Oklahoma’s state statute decrees that “Every person guilty of secretly loitering about any building, with intent to overhear discourse therein, and to repeat or publish the same to vex, annoy, or injure others, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
It’s against the law to play bingo for more than five hours
- Where it’s illegal: North Carolina
We know it can be addictive, but the state Alcohol Law Enforcement agency says enough is enough, and bans players from enjoying the game for more than five hours at a time – unless the game is at the State Fair, held every October in Raleigh.
It’s against the law to pump your own gas
- Where it’s illegal: New Jersey
In the days of yore, nobody pumped their own gas but relied on gas station attendants, who were often dressed in white uniforms. These attendants sprung to the driver’s assistance to fill the tank as well as check the oil, water, and tire pressure in the bargain. Those days may be long gone, but New Jersey just doesn’t trust its residents around flammable liquids. “Because of the fire hazards directly associated with dispensing fuel,” reads a state law, “it is in the public interest that gasoline station operators have the control needed over that activity,”
It’s against the law to go trick-or-treating on Sundays
- Where it’s illegal: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
According to local law, most recently amended in 1977, if Halloween falls on a Sunday, dressing up in costumes and going from door to door asking for candy is a no-no. Do it on Saturday instead, says the city. If you’ve reached the age of 14, you can only go trick-or-treating between the hours of 6 pm and 8 pm.
It’s against the law to wear a funny fake mustache in church
- Where it’s illegal: Alabama
Out of respect for religious services and those attending them, the state makes it illegal “to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church.”
It’s against the law to paint or disguise a horse
- Where it’s illegal: Vermont
Title 13 of the Vermont Statutes specifies that “A person who knowingly and designedly for the purpose of competing for a purse or premium offered by an agricultural society, corporation, or association within the State, enters or drives a horse or horse kind painted or disguised…shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than $500.00, or both.”
It’s against the law to carry a lunchbox on Main Street
- Where it’s illegal: Las Cruces, New Mexico
It is believed that this law was enacted to prevent dangerous weapons or other paraphernalia from easily being concealed and carried. Carrying your lunch in a brown paper bag is presumably okay.
It’s against the law to hunt or harass Bigfoot
- Where it’s illegal: Skamania County, Washington
Bigfoot is a large, hairy, mystical creature otherwise known as Sasquatch. There are many programs dedicated to finding this elusive beast but since it is seldom seen, he/she/it must be an endangered species. This is why Washington County passed a law decreeing that the killing of this elusive creature was a felony punishable by five years in prison.
It’s against the law to eat a frog that dies during a frog-jumping contest
- Where it’s illegal: California
If you thought that frog-jumping contests ceased to exist after the 19th century, you would be wrong. They are still held in parts of the Golden State and if any of the frogs expires during the competition, however, state law prescribes that “it must be destroyed as soon as possible, and may not be eaten or otherwise used for any purpose.”
It’s against the law to sell or barter cat or dog hair
- Where it’s illegal: Delaware
Title 11 of the Delaware Code reads “A person is guilty of the unlawful trade in dog or cat by-products in the second degree if the person knowingly or recklessly sells, barters or offers for sale or barter, the fur or hair of a domestic dog or cat or any product made in whole or in part from the fur or hair of a domestic dog or cat.”
It’s against the law to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime
- Where it’s illegal: New Jersey
Title 2C of the New Jersey Code warns you not to put on a bulletproof vest (defined as “bullet-resistant body armor which is intended to provide ballistic and trauma protection”) if you are “engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit murder, manslaughter, robbery, sexual assault, burglary, kidnapping, criminal escape or assault.”
It’s against the law to trip a horse
- Where it’s illegal: California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and nine other states
According to Title 14 of the California Code, it’s a misdemeanor to trip a horse by “using a wire, pole, stick, rope, etc. to cause a horse to fall or lose its balance.” Besides those mentioned above, the practice is illegal in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Nebraska, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Texas.
It’s against the law to catch fish with a lasso
- Where it’s illegal: Tennessee
Tennessee Code Ann. § 70-4-104 doesn’t specifically mention a lasso, but outlaws using anything other than a rod, reel, and hook for fishing. But it’s too bad that Tennessee has outlawed this practice because we’d like to see somebody try.
It’s against the law to ride a horse faster than 10 mph
- Where it’s illegal: Indiana
Laws like this were brought up in other states in earlier centuries due to an increased population using horse-drawn carriages and buggies as a means of transportation. Much like cars, these carriages caused congestion, and “speeding” was an issue. It’s not clear why this became law in Indiana but the state officially forbids horses to be ridden above this rather modest speed limit. Since a cantering horse can reach a speed of about 18 mph, if you’re an Indiana equestrian, rein in your steed.
It’s against the law to eat somebody
- Where it’s illegal: Idaho
Title 18, Chapter 50 of the Idaho Statutes, headlined “Mayhem,” enacted in 1990, warns that “Any person who wilfully ingests the flesh or blood of a human being is guilty of cannibalism” – a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. A bill was introduced in early 2024 to add to what constitutes cannibalism.
It’s against the law to eat more than three sandwiches at a wake
- Where it’s illegal: Massachusetts
This is only one of several absurd laws and while this law, and others, is no longer enforced, it’s still on the books.
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