Fact or fiction? The answers

1.True. This dates back to 1872, and you’re also not allowed to be drunk in charge of a cow, or while you’re carrying a loaded firearm.

2. True. The 1313 Statute Forbidding Bearing of Armour forbids members of Parliament from wearing armour in the House.

3.This is an offence under s54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.

4. Under the TfL Railway Byelaws, any person directed to queue by an authorised person or a sign must join the rear of the queue and obey the reasonable instructions of any authorised person regulating the queue.

5. This is an offence under the Salmon Act 1986.

6. Under s12 of the Licensing Act 1872, “every person found drunk… on any licensed premises, shall be liable to a penalty”.

7. True. This is an offence under s 60 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. However, beating or shaking a doormat is allowed before 8am.

8. Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I all passed sumptuary laws, which regulated clothing styles. For example, the 1562 Articles for the Execution of the Statutes of Apparel prohibited anyone from appearing at the royal court wearing shirts with “outrageous double ruffs”, or hose of “monstrous and outrageous greatness”. However, such laws were generally repealed by James I.

9. This is an offence under s55 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.

10. The Treason Felony Act 1848 makes it an offence to do any act with the intention of deposing the monarch, but it seems unlikely that placing a stamp upside down fulfils this criterion. The Act itself certainly does not refer to stamps. According to the Royal Mail, it is perfectly acceptable to put a stamp upside-down.

Source: http://www.lawcom.gov.uk March 2013. As the law can change at any time we cannot guarantee the accuracy of these anwers and readers should not rely on them without conducting their own research.