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boots_n_cats t1_izfh1no wrote

Reply to comment by greatgildersleeve in TIL that in the UK, it is a crime to make new copies of the King James Bible. Although the text is technically in the public domain, the Crown claims Royal prerogative over the right to print, publish and distribute it. by al666in

The title is highly misleading. There are absolutely new copies printed in the UK, a couple of publishers have the authorization to do so. It’s a bit of an odd anachronistic thing but that’s true of tons of stuff in the UK, given it’s 800 years of legal continuity.

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bigbadfox t1_izi43rs wrote

Oh i love this kind of thing. Are there any other fun old British laws, off the top of your head?

I'll trade you an American one. In Kentucky, it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket. Not like, an ice cream bar in a wrapper, like an actual waffle cone with scoops of frozen diary.

Bonus fact? It's for an actual logical reason. Whether it's a good reason or a stupid one is up to you.

Back in the day, people would tuck an ice cream cone into their back pocket, and walk past a horse they wanted to steal. The horse, wishing to enjoy the frozen treat, would follow the nefarious thief home. Naturally, if this vagabond just jumped on and rode off, someone might see and they' get in serious trouble. But if that horse FOLLOWED them home and someone saw, well what could he wrong with that? The idea was to garner some amount of plausible deniabity.

So, eventually they just said no ice cream cones in back pockets.

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