Many laws are on the books that appear to be ridiculous to us today, but they were written and passed during a time when they were necessary. That does not stop them from making us laugh today, so we will examine these laws now.
1. If You Want to Get Drunk, You Must Get a Permit
Like many other states in the United States, Texas has a law against public drunkenness. In some towns, however, you can plan your drunken incursions into the city by going to the Director of Parks & Recreation and requesting a permit that allows you to become inebriated in a city park.
As strange as this sounds, there may be a method to this madness. The city may not want people to obtain permission to get drunk. What they are really asking is for people to have a liquor license to attend events in a city park with alcohol.
2. You Are Required to Have a Spittoon
In El Paso, you are required to have a spittoon, but this also seems to be reasonable to prevent people from spitting anywhere they can. This law applies to specific places, including saloons, train depots, stores, banks, hotels, assembly halls, and churches. These spittoons need to be able to hold “expectorations” that visitors release, so placing one spittoon in a location is often sufficient. This law must have been enacted when people were spitting an excessive amount in town, so the “spittoon required” rule must have been welcome at the time.
Many laws are on the books that appear to be ridiculous to us today, but they were written and passed during a time when they were necessary. That does not stop them from making us laugh today, so we will examine these laws now.
3. You May Get Married with a Public Declaration
Common law marriages are legal marriages, and you can get into one with your significant other by declaring that you are married in public three separate times. Before you can do this, both the bride and groom must be at least 18 years old, but the two of you cannot be related to each other. Lastly, both the bride and groom have to agree to the marriage.
This type of marriage is interesting for another reason as well. It does not require both the bride and the groom to attend the ceremony, and the marriage will still be legal!
4. Profanity Over the Phone Is Illegal
In 1948, lawmakers had had enough of people swearing while talking on the telephone. Therefore, they passed a law making it illegal to say curse words on the phone. You are fortunate to be living at this time and not in 1948 if you are the type to let out a string of curse words while you are on an automated phone line or connecting to the internet. If you were to do this in Texas, you would have been in trouble!
This law may apply to the present day after all. If we had this law and it applied to social media or text messages, the internet would be a much more courteous place.
5. Horses Have to Have Tail Lights
Texarkana allows you to ride your horse at night if it has tail lights. This law goes a long way to making the roads safer. Even though this may seem strange, it makes just enough sense to be worthy of a law. If a horse has tail lights, other motorists on the road will be able to see it easily, so it is a very sensible law after all!
