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<div class="sh">I had to share this with you guys, this is insanely funny. ~ Lance</div>
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<div class="sh"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7081038.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7081038.stm</a></div>
<div class="sh">UK chooses 'most ludicrous laws' </div></div></td></tr>
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<div><img height="152" alt="Houses of Parliament" hspace="0" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44221000/jpg/_44221338_housesofparliament_bbc203.jpg" width="203" border="0">
<div class="cap">It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><b>A little-known law which prohibits people dying while in the Houses of Parliament has been voted the UK's most ludicrous piece of legislation.
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<p>Another law which states it is treason to use a postage stamp upside down was placed in second place by those polled by UKTV Gold.
<p>The most absurd international law was judged to be in the US state of Ohio, where it is illegal to get fish drunk.
<p>The 3,931 people asked selected the laws from a shortlist of bizarre rules.
<p>A total of 27% of those questioned thought the law against dying in the Houses of Parliament was the most absurd, while 7% voted for the legislation banning placing postage stamps upside down.
<p>In third place, with 6%, came a law stating that only a clerk in a tropical fish store has permission to be topless in public in Liverpool.
<p><b>Driving blindfolded</b>
<p>Other lesser-known laws making the top 10 included one banning eating mince pies on Christmas Day and another stating it is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour.
<p>Almost half of those asked confessed to breaking the mince pie law, which was brought in by Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century.
<p>The unusual international laws on the list included legislation against naming a pig Napoleon in France, driving while wearing a blindfold in Alabama and unmarried women parachuting on a Sunday.
<p>The Law Society last year revealed other bizarre UK laws still in existence on the statute book.
<p>They included a ban on firing a cannon close to a dwelling house (Met Police Act 1839); a ban on the use of any slide upon ice or snow (Town Police Clauses Act 1847); and the prohibition of driving cattle through the streets of London (Metropolitan Streets Act 1867).
<p><b>Dead whales</b>
<p>The UK's top 10 most ridiculous British laws were listed as:
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<li>1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27%)
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<li>2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down (7%)
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<li>3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (6%)
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<li>4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned(5%)
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<li>5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are required to let them enter (4%)
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<li>6. In the UK a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (4%)
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<li>7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen (3.5%)
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<li>8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (3%)
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<li>9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour
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<li>10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (2%)
<p><b>False teeth</b>
<p>The top 10 bizarre foreign laws as voted by those polled:
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<li>1. In Ohio, it is illegal to get a fish drunk (9%)
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<li>2. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation (8%)
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<li>3. A male doctor in Bahrain can only examine the genitals of a woman in the reflection of a mirror (7%)
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<li>4. In Switzerland, a man may not relieve himself standing up after 10pm (6%)
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<li>5. It is illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle in Alabama (6%)
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<li>6. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on a Sunday could be jailed (6%)
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<li>7. Women in Vermont must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth (6%)
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<li>8. In Milan, it is a legal requirement to smile at all times, except during funerals or hospital visits (5%)
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<li>9. There is no age of consent in Japan (5%)
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<li>10. In France, it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon (4%) </li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></p></p></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></li></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p></p>
</p></font></td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>No animals were harmed in the sending of this message.<br>However, a few million electrons were extremely inconvenienced...