Laws describe acceptable and unacceptable behaviors and set out penalties to be imposed when the rules are violated. While most laws are designed to make sense for a particular community and culture, a few outlast their usefulness and others are just plain quirky from the start. See how well you know basic legal facts and test yourself on some of the odder laws on the books.
It's called "impeding traffic," and if you are dawdling in the high-speed lane - or any other lane - you'll be pulled over and face a fine. Most states have slow-speed laws and they are vigorously enforced in places such as Florida, Alaska, Hawaii and Nevada where, coincidentally, tourists tend to take their feet off their accelerators to gawk at a site or puzzle out directions.
For more than a century, having a rain barrel in your yard in Colorado was against the law. Not anymore. The drought-challenged state passed two laws in 2009 to allow residents to collect the rain runoff from their roofs and use the water for household needs and gardens.
Such macho posturing could land you in jail in Alabama. Bear wrestling, once a popular, if hazardous, sporting activity, is a Class B felony in the Heart of Dixie. That's as serious as a manslaughter charge, so you're safer, and smarter, to flex your pumped-up muscles in a gym.
Criminal trials usually, but not always, feature 12 jurors. Civil trials often have a smaller number of jurors but there are typically at least six.
While hamsters are welcome in California households, their larger cousins, gerbils are on the list of prohibited pets. The California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 671 also outlaws possession and import of ferrets and snapping turtles.
Think again. And don't spit out your orange peels in an elevator or your apple skins on the bus, either. An Alabama law makes it a crime to litter any public area with fruit skins.
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on Jan. 1, 1863, freed only the slaves in rebel, or Confederate, territory. It was not until two years later, in 1865, that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution made it illegal to own slaves anywhere in the United States.
In 1313, Britain's King Edward II issued a proclamation barring suits of armor and weapons from the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The law is still on the books.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department categorizes Bigfoot as a "non-protected, nongame animal" which means, under Texas law, it is perfectly legal to bag a Bigfoot, as long as you have a Texas hunting license.
The British Metropolitan Police Act of 1839 makes it a crime to set off your cannon that close to your neighbor's house, although blasting away from a greater distance is not expressly prohibited.
You're not quite ready for law school but a little more reading should really boost your knowledge.
You understand some basic ins and outs of law and appreciate some of its quirks.
You're a legal eagle! You know your history and an impressive amount of legal oddities. Congratulations!