Strange Laws of Ireland

IvaBigWun · 09-01-2009 7:05pm #1

It is illegal for a student to walk through Trinity College without a sword.

In Trinity college students can demand a glass of wine at any time during an exam, provided they are wearing their sword.

It is illegal to smoke any form of tobacco on Grafton St. in Dublin

Surely the first 2 are made up?

JIZZLORD · 09-01-2009 7:15pm

the trinners ones arent irish laws, only arcane college rules from back in the day

Berty · 09-01-2009 7:18pm

Holders of the freedom of Dublin have the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries. This includes College Green and St Stephen's Green. (this right was exercised as a publicity stunt by Bono when he brought sheep in to St. Stephens Green).

Biggins · 09-01-2009 7:30pm

Berty wrote: »

Holders of the freedom of Dublin have the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries. This includes College Green and St Stephen's Green. (this right was exercised as a publicity stunt by Bono when he brought sheep in to St. Stephens Green).

Awaa that was nice. He gave them a day out - before they got the chop.
Hang on...They are me chops! :eek:

figs86 · 09-01-2009 7:33pm

Berty wrote: »

Holders of the freedom of Dublin have the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries. This includes College Green and St Stephen's Green. (this right was exercised as a publicity stunt by Bono when he brought sheep in to St. Stephens Green).

think he technically broke the law as you're supposed to pasture your own sheep but he borrowed some

also - not allowed smoke tobacco on grafton street? - that'd be quite ironic given that all 3 of the main tobacconists in dublin are on grafton street!

Ponster · 09-01-2009 7:35pm

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/international/ireland

Time Magazine · 09-01-2009 7:40pm

IvaBigWun wrote: »

It is illegal for a student to walk through Trinity College without a sword.

In Trinity college students can demand a glass of wine at any time during an exam, provided they are wearing their sword.

It is illegal to smoke any form of tobacco on Grafton St. in Dublin

None of these are true. Certainly the first two are not.

Edit: technically TCD students are supposed to adhere to a dress code (academic dress) and even "doff their cap" to many lecturers, but obviously these antiquated rules are overlooked. The rules you state just don't exist, though.

Biggins · 09-01-2009 7:42pm

Ponster wrote: »

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/international/ireland

Any person who shall pretend or exercise to use any type of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or pretend knowledge in any occult or or craft or science shall for any such offense suffer imprisonment at the time of one whole year and also shall be obliged to obscursion for his/her good behavior.

O' crap - those bewitching folk in the Dail then are in serious trouble. Someone tell them quick to stop!

javaboy · 09-01-2009 7:57pm

You must hold a TV licence for any device capable of receiving TV signals even if you don't use it or it's broken or you just watch dvds on it.

You can drive around on public roads without ever proving your competency at driving.

Biggins · 09-01-2009 7:59pm

javaboy wrote: »

You can drive around on public roads without ever proving your competency at driving.

That I DO believe. Its explains many a TD's driving!

biko · 09-01-2009 8:02pm

The Tippling Act 1735 prohibits a publican from pursuing a customer for money owed for any drink given on credit.
The law was aimed at stopping landlords demanding ale money owed to them by servants who resorted to robbing their masters to pay their debts.

Biggins · 09-01-2009 8:11pm

biko wrote: »

...The law was aimed at stopping landlords demanding ale money owed to them by servants who resorted to robbing their masters to pay their debts.

Aaa whaa!

O' hang on. Tell the people on that site to go buy a comma or two...
(I know its not your fault)

The law was aimed at stopping landlords demanding ale money, owed to them by servants who resorted to robbing their masters to pay their debts.

Its weird world we share. Funny mad place!

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 09-01-2009 8:20pm

javaboy wrote: »

You must hold a TV licence for any device capable of receiving TV signals even if you don't use it or it's broken or you just watch dvds on it.

But any conductor of electricity 'receives' TV signals

Biggins · 09-01-2009 8:22pm

Sean_K wrote: »

But any conductor of electricity 'receives' TV signals

...true but also must have the ability to decode them too.
(sorry - I'm being sensible for a second - I won't do it again!)

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 09-01-2009 8:27pm

Biggins wrote: »

...true but also must have the ability to decode them too.
(sorry - I'm being sensible for a second - I won't do it again!)

phew, just as I was about to get a license for my cutlery.

Biggins · 09-01-2009 8:29pm

Sean_K wrote: »

phew, just as I was about to get a license for my cutlery.

I tried that. Played havoc with my dvd player when I inserted them.
(O' cool. I'm back to my normal situation...)

admiralofthefleet · 09-01-2009 8:44pm

you can take a piss or drop a dreadnought on the road as long as its at the back left of a carriage (taxi, car ect...)

Thomas_S_Hunterson · 09-01-2009 8:49pm

One of the odder ones it that it's illegal to be drunk in a pub (or indeed any public place).

yurmothrintites · 09-01-2009 9:55pm

IvaBigWun wrote: »

It is illegal for a student to walk through Trinity College without a sword.

In Trinity college students can demand a glass of wine at any time during an exam, provided they are wearing their sword.

It is illegal to smoke any form of tobacco on Grafton St. in Dublin

Surely the first 2 are made up?

The second one is definately true. I thought it was a glass of port though.

You can shoot someone and kill them from the top of the campinile in Trinity on a particular day of the year and not be charged with murder.

Biggins · 09-01-2009 10:08pm

yurmothrintites wrote: »

...You can shoot someone and kill them from the top of the campinile in Trinity on a particular day of the year and not be charged with murder.

Ooo my mother-in-law is dying (or soon will be!) to know what day that is? Do tell!
I will love you long time...

yurmothrintites · 09-01-2009 10:10pm

Sorry don't know!:D They don't tend to publicise the date for some reason!

Biggins · 09-01-2009 10:36pm

yurmothrintites wrote: »

Sorry don't know!:D They don't tend to publicise the date for some reason!

I wonder why!

figs86 · 09-01-2009 10:39pm

yurmothrintites wrote: »

The second one is definately true. I thought it was a glass of port though.

You can shoot someone and kill them from the top of the campinile in Trinity on a particular day of the year and not be charged with murder.

these things are definitely true but you think they're different???

they've fairly done the rounds

i heard it was guinness because it used to come in a dehydrated form (there's also the story of the guy who refused to sit his exam without his guinness/port/wine and was really smug until he was suspended for not wearing his sword at the time)

and i believe the story goes that protestants may shoot catholics from the towers in front arch without any repercussions

09-01-2009 10:40pm

That one about killing someone from the Campanile has various forms:

* You can kill the Provost form the Campanile
* You can kill Catholics from the Campanile
* You can shoot Catholics with a cross-bow from the Campanile
* The Provost is allowed kill Catholics from the Campanile

Lots of forms.

Back to the original post, I always thought the ban on music during drink-up time in pubs is strange.

DublinWriter · 09-01-2009 10:41pm

figs86 wrote: »

and i believe the story goes that protestants may shoot catholics from the towers in front arch without any repercussions

Catholic priests, and it's pure TCD folklore.

figs86 · 09-01-2009 10:43pm

DublinWriter wrote: »

Catholic priests, and it's pure TCD folklore.

obviously....but anyone who didnt cop that....well god bless'em!

hashbones · 01-06-2012 1:58pm

javaboy wrote: »

You must hold a TV licence for any device capable of receiving TV signals even if you don't use it or it's broken or you just watch dvds on it.

You can drive around on public roads without ever proving your competency at driving.

well it would depend on whats broken wether it can recieve tv signals and decode them or not

EuropeanSon · 01-06-2012 2:06pm

yurmothrintites wrote: »

The second one is definately true. I thought it was a glass of port though.

You can shoot someone and kill them from the top of the campinile in Trinity on a particular day of the year and not be charged with murder.

The legend is that it's a glass of port, and I believe it was supposedly only for Scholars, but I've been informed by reliable sources that such a rule probably never existed and certainly doesn't exist nowadays. It is not "definitely true".

Unavailable for Comment · 01-06-2012 2:12pm

Defamation Act 2009, Section 36 - 36.— (1) A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €25,000.

goose2005 · 01-06-2012 2:12pm

yurmothrintites wrote: »

The second one is definately true. I thought it was a glass of port though.

It's not true, it's a copy of a similar legend told about Oxford/Cambridge.

ldxo15wus6fpgm · 01-06-2012 2:23pm

Thomas_S_Hunterson wrote: »

One of the odder ones it that it's illegal to be drunk in a pub (or indeed any public place).

No it's not?

Dónal wrote: »

Back to the original post, I always thought the ban on music during drink-up time in pubs is strange.

Never heard of this ban either. I work in pubs - generally I've always thought the music goes off to get rid of people faster. Lose the atmosphere and people might want to go home... that kind of thing.

Unavailable for Comment · 01-06-2012 2:32pm

Macy Ripe Balm wrote: »

No it's not?

Yeah he's correct.

Under the intoxicated liquor act 2003 it is illegal to be admitted to a licensed premises while drunk and it is illegal to be served in a licensed premises when drunk. It is also an offense not to leave a premises when requested by a member of staff if you are drunk.

ldxo15wus6fpgm · 01-06-2012 3:09pm

Unavailable for Comment wrote: »

Yeah he's correct.

Under the intoxicated liquor act 2003 it is illegal to be admitted to a licensed premises while drunk and it is illegal to be served in a licensed premises when drunk. It is also an offense not to leave a premises when requested by a member of staff if you are drunk.

So then in no way is it illegal to simply be in a licensed premises while drunk... Not that hard to deduce. It's illegal for the premises to allow you in if you're already drunk, and to be served while drunk, and to refuse to leave. Also perfectly legal to be drunk in a public place.

Unavailable for Comment · 01-06-2012 3:21pm

Macy Ripe Balm wrote: »

So then in no way is it illegal to simply be in a licensed premises while drunk... Not that hard to deduce. It's illegal for the premises to allow you in if you're already drunk, and to be served while drunk, and to refuse to leave.

I may have overestimated your familiarity with licensing law.

The statute makes it illegal to display the behaviours that people would associate with a person who is drunk. Thus the legislation makes it illegal to be drunk on a premises while removing the need for license holders to have evidentiary breathalyzers to measure blood alcohol amounts to hand before ejecting patrons.

That is the purpose of the act.

Macy Ripe Balm wrote: »

Also perfectly legal to be drunk in a public place.

You're correct . . . if you're using a definition of legal that mean illegal.

mikemac1 · 01-06-2012 3:32pm

Barristers do not shake hands
This is because they are "honourable gentlemen"
Shaking hands goes back to the days of showing someone you are unarmed.
As barristers are noble gentlemen they have no need to do this

In fact if a barrister tried to shake another barristers hand it could be seen as an insult

If a barrister calls someone "my friend", that's cool
If a barrister calls someone "my learned friend", that's an insult. You're saying that are not learned at all

Upward only rent reviews were not only possible but were the done thing in Ireland

Any ships pilot or captain who wrecked a boat in Dublin Bay would have their eyes put out with a knife. Henry VIII brought in that.
Before the North Wall Dublin Bay would silt up and boats were constantly getting wrecked.
Wonder would SIPTU would say about this rule!

Adulteration Of Coffee Act 1718
Remember coffee was always an import and it wasn't so easy to get this around the world.
It was illegal to use sheep droppings to bulk up your bags of coffee beans
Actually, that's not a dumb law, that's a good one
Had to google it there but I did a night course in DIT and remember the lecturer talking about that one

ldxo15wus6fpgm · 02-06-2012 3:47pm

Unavailable for Comment wrote: »

I may have overestimated your familiarity with licensing law.

The statute makes it illegal to display the behaviours that people would associate with a person who is drunk. Thus the legislation makes it illegal to be drunk on a premises while removing the need for license holders to have evidentiary breathalyzers to measure blood alcohol amounts to hand before ejecting patrons.

That is the purpose of the act.

You're correct . . . if you're using a definition of legal that mean illegal.

The 2003 Act gives interpretations, “drunken person” means a person who is intoxicated to such an extent as would give rise to a reasonable apprehension that the person might endanger himself or herself or any other person, and “drunk” and “drunkenness” are to be construed accordingly;

s.4 (1) A licensee shall not, on the licensed premises—

(c) permit drunkenness to take place in the bar
(d) admit any drunken person to the bar.

As you have said this places a restriction on the behaviours of people in the bar. It does not mean drunk people are not allowed to be in the bar, and there are two ways to prove this;
If they had meant that drunk people are not allowed in the bar they would have made ss.
(c) allow drunken persons to be in the bar
instead of what it actually is and secondly, if drunken persons were not allowed on a licensed premises there would be almost no pub industry in this country.

recylingbin · 02-06-2012 3:50pm

It is illegal in Waterford to bathe more than once a week.
True story.

Bell Butter · 02-06-2012 3:58pm

Germany has the ability to micro manage our economy. What a strange law indeed.

Vicar in a tutu · 02-06-2012 4:03pm

Beer Baron wrote: »

Holders of the freedom of Dublin have the right to pasture sheep on common ground within the city boundaries. This includes College Green and St Stephen's Green. (this right was exercised as a publicity stunt by Bono when he brought sheep in to St. Stephens Green).

God.. Bono's a prick :pac: Big show off:mad:

the purple tin · 02-06-2012 4:11pm

You can legally beat your wife as long as the stick you use isn't thicker than your mickey.

Professey Chin · 02-06-2012 4:18pm

mikemac1 wrote: »

Sure there are Nazi's in Waterford

The deise want to create lebensraum in Kilkenny

Nothing lower then a land-grabber
They beat the Brits and they'll beat out the Suirsiders

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/local/waterford_city_council_compared_to_nazis_as_boundary_row_hots_up_1_2152735

City looking to expand shocker. Hillbillys scared

John Doe1 · 02-06-2012 4:27pm

If you fiddle with children it is legal if you spent a few years in maynooth

SafeSurfer · 02-06-2012 5:45pm

It is illegal to have certain weeds growing on agricultural land in Ireland punishable by a fine. One is the, im unsure of the spelling bohalan, a yellow flowered weed.

It is also illegal to cut down a tree more than ten years old.

To do it legally involves informing the local Gardai who then place an automatic preservation order on the tree and then applying for a felling licence to cut down the tree.

Needless to say these laws are rarely enforced or observed.

Jester252 · 02-06-2012 6:29pm

SafeSurfer wrote: »

It is illegal to have certain weeds growing on agricultural land in Ireland punishable by a fine. One is the, im unsure of the spelling bohalan, a yellow flowered weed.

It is also illegal to cut down a tree more than ten years old.

To do it legally involves informing the local Gardai who then place an automatic preservation order on the tree and then applying for a felling licence to cut down the tree.

Needless to say these laws are rarely enforced or observed.

Your never tried to take down a protected tree. Have one beside my house that was causing a risk to our house meaning insurance was expensive. We got a tree surgeon out and the best he could do was prune it. He walked into the house with a lump of wood he cut off that was black to the core and was going to fall any day

Ponster · 02-06-2012 7:03pm

SafeSurfer wrote: »

It is illegal to have certain weeds growing on agricultural land in Ireland punishable by a fine. One is the, im unsure of the spelling bohalan, a yellow flowered weed.

Ragwort, also known as ragweed, buachalán and buachalán buidhe.

Ragwort is a highly poisonous plant if eaten. Ragwort is toxic to cattle, horses, deer, goats, pigs and chickens.

senorwipesalot · 02-06-2012 7:46pm

Slightly off topic but in the U.K. any person found breaking a boiled egg at the sharp end will be sentenced to 24 hours in the village stocks (enacted by Edward VI).

Sounds like something Baldybollix Noonan would come come out with.

mikemac1 · 02-06-2012 7:51pm

Silage season soon

The farmers and contractors often put flashing amber lights on their machinery, helps them to be visible

Illegal.
Yet there is always moaning about badly lit tractors on the roads.
They try to do something and get told not to

charlemont · 02-06-2012 7:52pm

There's no law against being stoned yet there is a law against possession of the substance that gets you stoned..

Buyingcar2012 · 02-06-2012 7:54pm

charlemont wrote: »

There's no law against being stoned yet there is a law against possession of the substance that gets you stoned..

S4 of the Criminal Justice Public Order would disagree.

mikemac1 · 02-06-2012 7:58pm

http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2006/4606/b4606.pdf

Nucleur Test Ban Bill 2006

Not allowed explode a nuclear device in Ireland
Damn nanny state

Doing this will land you in District Court.
Don't they have drink driving and TV licences to deal with?

summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or both.

Cool Story Bro · 02-06-2012 8:01pm

They removed Articles 2 and 3. That was strange. Considering they were correct and lawful Articles.

Strange Laws of Ireland

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