Is it legal to shoot a Welshman with a longbow inside the city walls of Chester after midnight?

As previously reported everyone in Chester knows this is true. Now there is an official government statement about this:

Is it legal to shoot a Welshman with a longbow on Sunday in the Cathedral Close in Hereford; or inside the city walls of Chester after midnight; or a Scotsman within the city walls of York, other than on a Sunday?

It is illegal to shoot a Welsh or Scottish (or any other) person regardless of the day, location or choice of weaponry. The idea that it may once have been allowed in Chester appears to arise from a reputed City Ordinance of 1403, passed in response to the Glyndŵr Rising, and imposing a curfew on Welshmen in the city. However, it is not even clear that this Ordinance ever existed. Sources for the other cities are unclear; Hereford, like Chester, was frequently under attack from Wales during the medieval period. Unlawful killings are today covered by the criminal law; see also Art. 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to life. 

But some silly laws actually are true:

It is illegal to beat or shake any carpet or rug in any street. However, beating or shaking a doormat is allowed before 8am. 

This is an offence under s60 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. In other districts, it is an offence under s28 of the Town Police Clauses Act 1847. Other offences covered by s28 include: 

• keeping a pigsty in front of your house; 
• slaughtering cattle in the street; 
• erecting a washing line across the street;
• singing profane or obscene songs or ballads in the street; 
• wilfully and wantonly disturbing people by ringing their doorbells or knocking at their doors. 

 This New York Times article has more details about other unusual laws.

Funny Things from the Daily Mash

Northern Powerhouse relocated to London

Blackburn appoints Lambert out of spite

Lemmy confirms he is immortal

Self-deprecating remark about age goes unchallenged

Bag for life ‘a haunting reminder of mortality’

Cops ticketing cars in protected bike lane on San Jose

Poor Excuses

When articles in The Times exposed the street-grooming scandal in 2012, the council’s response was to dismiss the investigation as a "politically motivated" attack on a Labour authority by the "Murdoch press". Now Rotherham council is to come under central government control after an independent inspection of its handling of child sexual exploitation concluded it was not fit for purpose and was more concerned about protecting its own reputation than its most vulnerable citizens. Meanwhile the Times reporter Andrew Norfolk won the Paul Foot award.