Irish law

haydar

Does anyone know what is the strangest law Ireland has?

Raze_them_all

Blasphemy law.


/thread.

AlmightyCushion

Chuggers are pretty much universally accepted as being annoying assholes, yet if I punch one of them in the throat, I'm the one that goes to jail. Where's the justice in that?

Shield

Illegal to feed peanuts to a chicken.

Louise_M1990

I know there were some crazy laws back years ago, can't find them now though Be interested with what people share here! Good thread!

Savage Tyrant

Irish Law is a funny old thing.... Look at the abortion law ... Now look at Jedward .... See what I'm saying?

Chaotic_Forces

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Chuggers are pretty much universally accepted as being annoying assholes, yet if I punch one of them in the throat, I'm the one that goes to jail. Where's the justice in that?

You meant: This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has cost me the time by stopping me in the street, and yet if I were to have them killed, I would be the one to go to jail. That's democracy for you.

As for odd laws: I will never understand why we're suddenly encouraged to "take the drinks outside" at closing time, yet it is illegal to drink outside on the street.

Oh and OP: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58533107

Savage Tyrant

Before 1964 the penalty for suicide was.... Death by hanging.

AllYourBass

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Chuggers are pretty much universally accepted as being annoying assholes, yet if I punch one of them in the throat, I'm the one that goes to jail. Where's the justice in that?

I think if you smoothly flow the throat jab into a heimlich and they survive, your good deed nullifies the assault and you can't be legally charged.

OutlawPete

When your own government is guilty of sexual discrimination, that's pretty "strange" ..

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0326/court.html

krudler

Get on the wrong side of a Garda, expect a raping.

themadchef

Closing time in pubs should be staggered. Fecking silly turfing people out on to the street at the same time.

mikemac

Probably an urban myth but read somewhere (probably boards!) about a TCD student demanding a cake and cup of wine and received them.
But was later fined for not wearing a sword

Most likely a myth, same story probably in Cambridge or Oxford in England.
But possible such rules existed once

The Freedom of Dublin City gives you the right to herd livestock. Bono brought lambs to Stephens Green

AllYourBass

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

Irish Law is a funny old thing.... Look at the abortion law ... Now look at Jedward .... See what I'm saying?

So THAT explains the swirly, 99 Cone hairdo's...

Mike 1972

Possibly urban myths but

In the Republic of Ireland it is illegal to urinate in public but feel free to take a dump. It is also illegal to sell a suit of armour to a Jew but perfectly legal for a one legged man to sell pigs in the street on a tuesday. The age of consent is 17 but in some circumstances one can marry at 16 (prior to the mid 1990's it was 14).

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

Before 1964 the penalty for suicide was.... Death by hanging.

What was the penalty for a second offence ?

haydar

I think you can take a dump in public cos you dont expose yourself as much as when you take a slash

Poor Craythur

OutlawPete wrote: »

When your own government is guilty of sexual discrimination, that's pretty "strange" ..

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0326/court.html

That Romeo and Juliet law is effed up.

sealgaire

Illegal to shoot a traveller that breaks into the home of an old man living alone . . . ..

mikemac

I believe you're allowed shot a Welshman with your crossbow if you see them after dusk

Chris P. Bacon

Stealing a horse is a hanging offence i think,i remember a court case in Waterford a few years ago when the judge said to the person who stole a horse that it was a hanging offence,but just let him off with a fine instead.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

haydar wrote: »

Does anyone know what is the strangest law Ireland has?

No death penalty.

haydar

I think its legal to punch grey squirrels on the shortest and longest day of the year only.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

I'd love to see some actual sources for these... sometimes what you read on the internet isn't true people!

I could say a blind man is allowed rob a bank as long as he wears a red jumper and his guide dog only has 3 legs. Does that mean it's a law?

prinz

Not so much strange laws as aspects of Irish law, but concurrent sentencing, the lack of a 'three strikes'-type of set up for serious crimes, maximum sentences, the automatic right for prisoners to sentence remission.

ldxo15wus6fpgm

prinz wrote: »

Not so much strange laws as aspects of Irish law, but concurrent sentencing, the lack of a 'three strikes'-type of set up for serious crimes, maximum sentences, the automatic right for prisoners to sentence remission.

3 strikes laws are ridiculous, how anyone can approve of them is beyond me. Judicial discretion is a GOOD thing!!
Also with max. sentences... if a rapist thinks there's a chance he could get life just for raping a woman, why wouldn't he kill her?

mikemac

I still don't know what a life sentence in Ireland is.

So get out in under a decade, a lot of reports are between 10-15 years.
And the same time there are others who got life sentences over 20 years ago and will most likely die in prison

frozenbanana

Its illegal in Ireland for a man to sniff a saddle on a womans bike. This offence is called 'bohonking'. The legislation was brought in the early 1900.

Just think about it, it must have been some problem if they made it illegal.

True story.

prinz

Leo Wonderful Paintbrush wrote: »

3 strikes laws are ridiculous, how anyone can approve of them is beyond me. Judicial discretion is a GOOD thing!!

I'm not talking about three stikes for nicking a bag of Tayto. I am talking about three strikes for serious crimes. There's no point in sentencing the same scumbags to 3 and 4 years a time for the same violent assaults etc over and over.

Leo Wonderful Paintbrush wrote: »

Also with max. sentences... if a rapist thinks there's a chance he could get life just for raping a woman, why wouldn't he kill her?

Or maybe he'd think twice about raping her to begin with. Interesting that you would describe judicial discretion as a GOOD thing in one breath and take away that very thing with your next point. Care to make your mind up there? Or is judicial discretion only a good thing as long as it's the one in the dock getting the benefit?

haydar

frozenbanana wrote: »

Its illegal in Ireland for a man to sniff a saddle on a womans bike. This offence is called 'bohonking'. The legislation was brought in the early 1900.

Just think about it, it must have been some problem if they made it illegal.

True story.

Ye i got put away for that a couple of years back. Its a disease.

AlmightyCushion

feelingstressed wrote: »

I still don't know what a life sentence in Ireland is.

So get out in under a decade, a lot of reports are between 10-15 years.
And the same time there are others who got life sentences over 20 years ago and will most likely die in prison

In Ireland a life sentence means you're in jail until the minister for justice says otherwise. I don't know if there are other conditions taken into account though.

Standman

It's illegal to urinate in public but there's no law against taking a dump

ldxo15wus6fpgm

prinz wrote: »

I'm not talking about three stikes for nicking a bag of Tayto. I am talking about three strikes for serious crimes. There's no point in sentencing the same scumbags to 3 and 4 years a time for the same violent assaults etc over and over.



Or maybe he'd think twice about raping her to begin with. Interesting that you would describe judicial discretion as a GOOD thing in one breath and take away that very thing with your next point. Care to make your mind up there? Or is judicial discretion only a good thing as long as it's the one in the dock getting the benefit?

If you put theft under a 3 strikes rule, you could very well get life for nicking a bag of tayto. There was a case in california where a man got life for stealing a golf club worth $110. Previous criminal record is taken into account during sentencing and no judge will look kindly upon someone with a long record. But simply locking away someone and throwing away the key is not going to solve the problem of recidivist offenders.
Before you make the point that you're only on about rape and manslaughter, you'd spend your life in jail anyway if you committed those offences 3 times.

For the second point, it has been proven that the 3 strikes law in CA has not reduced crime rates. At all. Same for the death penalty being implemented in the states. A Judge should not be able to put someone in prison for 15 years for stealing a bike, that's common sense. That's what maximum sentences are for.

Savage Tyrant

Standman wrote: »

It's illegal to urinate in public but there's no law against taking a dump

I think there's an old English law that requires a "Bobby" policeman to make his hat available to a pregnant woman if she needs to urinate.

Chris P. Bacon

Savage Tyrant wrote: »

I think there's an old English law that requires a "Bobby" policeman to make his hat available to a pregnant woman if she needs to urinate.

Yeah i have heard that myself,i wonder is it really true though.

frozenbanana

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Possibly urban myths but

In the Republic of Ireland it is illegal to urinate in public but feel free to take a dump.

Standman wrote: »

It's illegal to urinate in public but there's no law against taking a dump

There is a reason for that: you can only hold it for soo long, with number 1, you'll just pee yourself, holding number 2 for too long can cause you serious injury.

prinz wrote: »

Not so much strange laws as aspects of Irish law, but concurrent sentencing, the lack of a 'three strikes'-type of set up for serious crimes,

The problem with 3 strikes is - how do you define 'serious offence'? In US it's a felony i.e. an offence which carries a possible penalty of 5 years or more (in Ireland it's called an 'arrestable offence'). For example, theft is a felony, and there are people in US prisons doing life for being caught shoplifting 3 times. That's a bit much IMO.

The rest of your post is spot on

Mike 1972

feelingstressed wrote: »

I still don't know what a life sentence in Ireland is.

In theory a life sentence is exactly that in practice its 20 years with a possibility of getting out in as little as ten years on parole/good behaviour/compassionate grounds/early release/"political" grounds.

Personally I would introduce a law doing away with mandatory life sentences since they have become pretty meaningless but give judges the power to send the most extreme offenders to prison for life meaning exactly that.