In the UK, but elsewhere too, there are some very strange laws still around. Things you could be hanged for but probably do not realise. Usually the law courts do not realise it either, or tend to forget such oddities, or many of us might find ourselves in difficulties. The Common Law of the United Kingdom has, in fact, had a profound influence of the laws of many other nations. For example...
Elizabeth Ist decided to come down really hard on beggars and 'wanton vagrants.' Her proclamation of 1568 was so inclusive it meant that since the bards of Wales had for centuries made their living by what she had now classed as "begging," she was forced to introduce the Eisteddfod. This, it was was so deemed, would distinguish between genuine bards and idle beggars.
How to be deceptive
Because of the way Bills, private members' Bills or local ones, are produced, it is possible to insert an item you wish to be made law in the hope it will not be noticed by the honourable members, or councillors, and thereby become law. Parliamentary bills and such like are often so wordy items can be hidden within them and get passed. One such happened when back in the early 20th Century, a time when divorce required an Act of Parliament and was so expensive it was beyond most people, a town clerk, who was unhappily married, inserted into the impenetrable jargon of a local Waterworks Bill, in the part which dealt with stopcocks in the main roads and so on, the words "and the Town Clerk's marriage is hereby dissolved." No one noticed this addition during the reading of the Bill and the Clerk got his divorce.
Prior to that, Henry IV, once he had beaten Owen Glendower, set up a raft of really tough laws against the Welsh. They were not allowed to own land or hold any office in any town or the Marches. He restricted the right to bear weapons, they could not fortify their houses in any way, and that included the quite common practice on both sides of the border, of growing a thick hedge round a farm to keep livestock in. Nor could they meet in large gatherings, although what constituted "large" is a little unclear. And if an Englishman married a Welsh woman he lost all his rights too. This decree went on to say that no "rimers, minstrels or vagabonds" should be maintained by people wealthy enough to have done so, "because by their divinations, lies and exhortations they are partly the cause for rebellion and insurrection in Wales." The Princes of Wales and others of high status had, for centuries, maintined the right to support a bard and/or a harpist. They were not always the same person but very often they were. Certainly they were the carriers of news throughout the country; and by making it illegal to maintain a bard Henry certainly prevented messages and news passing easily from place to place.