Georgia

Those engaging in llama-related activities, such as riding, training, or goofing around at a county fair or performance, are accountable for any and all personal injuries incurred. The "llama professional" is immune from liability for harm or death with few exceptions.

Injured participants have a shot in court if they were just spectating from an authorized area.

Hawaii

Billboards have no place in paradise. They're outlawed in the state with just 18 exceptions.

The "urban beautification" initiative dates back to 1927, when an all-white circle of Hawaii's power wives created the Outdoor Circle Club and lobbied for the ban. Today, the group exists as a watchdog on ever-threatening, jumbo-size advertisements.

Idaho

Cannibalism is strictly prohibited and punishable by up to 14 years in prison in Idaho. But it's okay to "willfully ingest the flesh or blood of a human being" in life-or-death situations, if it's the only apparent means or survival.

The only state to declare cannibalism illegal, Idaho erected the ban in 1990 as a reaction to spreading fear that eating humans would pop-up in ritualized practices.

Illinois

Urban legend says it's a crime to possess more than $600 worth of salamanders. (That's 75-plus salamanders, according to fair market value.) In reality, it's illegal to keep any variety of aquatic life in excess of $600 in Illinois if it was captured or killed in violation of the state's law.

Indiana

Liquor stores can't sell cooled water or soda, but they can sell uncooled soda. In fact, they can't sell milk either. The code specifically lists what types of beverages (and at what temperatures) permit-holding businesses can have in stock.

Iowa

Anyone trying to pass off margarine (or oleo or oleomargarine) as real butter is guilty of a misdemeanor. The great butter vs. margarine battle rages on though, so we understand Iowa's desire for transparency.

Kansas

Liquor may not be sold by the glass in 26 counties. In Kansas — a state that outlawed alcohol sales until 1948, a full 15 years after Congress repealed Prohibition — individual counties may, by resolution or petition, prohibit the sale of booze in public places where 30% or less of their gross comes from the sale of food.

There's no place like home to get tipsy.

Kentucky

Every legislator, public officer, and lawyer must take an oath stating that they have not fought a duel with deadly weapons. When it entered the Kentucky Constitution in 1849, the law was meant to deter men who might aspire to public office from participating in the once-rampant Southern tradition.

Some evidence suggests, however, that trial-by-combat might technically be legal on a federal level even today.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 730