The World’s Most Bizarre Laws: From Banned Goldfish to Posthumous Marriage

Laws are necessary to maintain order, but some regulations around the globe are so baffling or absurd they simply make us laugh. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most surprising and strangest laws that are still (allegedly) on the books today.

Let’s look at some social and animal welfare oddities. In Switzerland, keeping a single goldfish is considered animal cruelty because they are social creatures and must be kept in pairs! Meanwhile, in Milan, Italy, you are legally required to smile in public at all times, with the exceptions of funerals and hospitals. In the UK, specifically England and Wales, it’s illegal to be in possession of ‘salmon in suspicious circumstances’ under the Salmon Act of 1986.

Hygiene and domestic life also feature in bizarre laws. In Kentucky, USA, all residents must, by law, bathe at least once a year. For noise control, residents in Swiss apartment buildings are reportedly forbidden from flushing their toilets after 10 PM as it constitutes noise pollution. And if you’re planning a trip to Singapore, leave your chewing gum at home—it’s illegal to import or sell it.

Perhaps the most shocking laws involve life and death. In Falciano del Massico, Italy, the mayor issued an ordinance making it illegal to die because the town lacks a cemetery. Even more astonishing is the law in France that allows citizens to marry a deceased person (posthumous marriage), provided there is proof the couple intended to marry before the death. Finally, spare a thought for donkeys in Arizona, USA: they are forbidden from sleeping in bathtubs after 7 PM, a rule put in place after a bizarre flood incident.

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