Questions tagged [law]
Use this tag for claims about the law. This must be almost always be accompanied by a country tag, such as [united-states] to clarify which country's laws the claim is about.
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Did the 1994 US crime bill "bring down crime"?
In 1994, the US federal government adopted the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (signed into law Sept. 13, 1994).
Ben Shapiro, host of the 'Daily Wire' podcast on YouTube, referred to it ...
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Was it ever illegal to name a pig "Napoleon" in France?
This is an oft-cited "unusual law", e.g. from The Sun:
IN FRANCE it is illegal to name a pig Napoleon, almost 200 years after his death.
Experts say the odd law exists because calling a ...
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In Alabama, if a person is found not guilty of rape, is their accuser assumed to be lying?
jessica a. m. @my2k
so the Alabama abortion criminalization bill has an extra tacked onto the end of it wherein, if a woman reports being raped and they find the person she accused not guilty, SHE ...
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Is it illegal in Alaska to wake up a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph?
DumbLaws.com claim:
While it is legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purpose of taking a photograph is prohibited.
The Gray Line Alaska blog repeats the claim.
There is also a ...
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Did Jhering coin the bon mot "In Germany everything that is not allowed is forbidden"?
On a website collecting aphorisms, we find:
In Deutschland ist alles verboten, was nicht erlaubt ist;
in England ist alles erlaubt, was nicht verboten ist;
in Rußland ist alles erlaubt, was ...
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1
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Were Papadopoulos, Manafort, and Flynn subjects of FISA applications?
Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee said this in December, in a closed-door hearing of the House Judiciary Committee (on pages 66-67 of this transcript, released a few days ago):
I want to ...
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In the USSR's legal system, was everything illegal unless specifically allowed?
Alan Dershowitz was recently interviewed by Michael Tracey on the latter's podcast. At 09:20 into the interview, Dershowitz makes the following claim regarding the USSR legal system:
... unlike in ...
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Do UK background checks successfully ‘prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups’? [closed]
When working with children in the UK, it's common to hear griping about the restrictions and administrative overhead imposed by compliance with the Disclosure & Barring (DBS) regime. Despite this ...
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Is the penalty for a woman having an abortion more severe than the penalty for rape?
On social media there are a lot of posts fuelled by the recent restrictions on abortion in Alabama and Missouri.
Some of these (the first is from Instagram and the second is from Twitter, although I ...
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Are there vaccine ingredients which may not be disclosed ("hidden", "trade secret", or similar)?
I sometimes encounter people claiming that there are ingredients in vaccines that can be kept secret by the manufacturer. I would be surprised to hear this, because the manufacturers have to conduct ...
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Did a homeowner fend-off three armed intruders with a high capacity magazine?
A recent NBC News article,
Judge blocks California's ban on high-capacity magazines over 2nd Amendment concerns claims the judge wrote an 86 page decision that included a story that a woman fended-...
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Did Dubai sentence someone to four years in jail for possession of three poppy seeds from a bread roll?
The BBC and various other news sites make variations of the following claim:
Previously, a Swiss man was jailed for possessing just three poppy
seeds which he had transported with him to Dubai.
...
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Did Amazon pay $0 in US taxes in 2018?
Background
I saw this article saying that Amazon paid $0 in corporate income tax last year. Is this true or just phrased to sound like they are getting away with paying nothing?
Here's the article: ...
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Could Michael Cohen reduce his sentence by cooperating with, or lying to, Congress?
This Trump tweet said
Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He ...
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Can a US President's declaration of emergency be overridden by simple majorities of both chambers of Congress?
Jennifer Rubin writes in the Washington Post that:
[the US President's] declaration of an emergency can be overridden by a simple majority of both houses
Is it true that a presidential declaration ...
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Did an unmarried couple in Iran get shot for holding hands in 2007?
In this video from 2007 Douglas Murray, a British journalist and critic of Islam, says:
In Iran, when people - when a couple were shot the other week for
holding hands when not being married, the ...
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Did Canada "mandate the content of voluntary speech"?
In this clip with Jordan Peterson conversing with Russel Brand, Peterson says, (3m:57s)
The government, for the first time in the history of Canada and really in a move that was unprecedented in ...
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Is the Clinton Foundation currently under investigation?
Marc Lotter, former special assistant to President Trump, just said this to CNN's Erin Burnett in the course of defending President Trump from the fact that the Trump foundation is shutting down after ...
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Are some police in Mexico acting as hired killers?
According to the 2016 book "The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars" by Tony Payan,
some police in Mexican border towns protect wealthy criminals and even "serve as sicarios" (hit men; p. 58).
Are there ...
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Were many former American slaves put back into virtual slavery after the civil war?
The ACLU has been a critic of the 13th amendment to the US constitution for some time, claiming that the clause that reads that slavery shall not exist "except as a punishment for crime whereof the ...
user11643
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In Massachusetts, can someone be "arrested and fined up to fifty-thousand dollars" for reporting suspicious behavior in a women's bathroom?
A Massachusetts political advertisement No On 3, Keep MA Safe says:
What does Massachusetts Question 3 mean to you? It means any man who says he is a woman can enter a women's locker room, dressing ...
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Are US workers legally required to pay income taxes?
In the 2006 film America: Freedom to Fascism, several interviews are shown which claim that American workers do not need to pay income tax. Specifically, this clip claims that
There is no law which ...
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Does requesting a bilingual trial often result in dismissal?
Life hack sites like to claim that requesting a bilingual trial will cause minor cases to be dismissed. I have seen this on multiple sites, but it seems they have a tendency to shut down after a year ...
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Is shooting a bald eagle a criminal offense in the US?
The German weekly newspaper Die Zeit recently published an article on its website which claims that shooting a bald eagle is a punishable offense in the US:
In den USA zum Beispiel darf man keinen ...
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Did a non-US Hungarian citizen get extradited to the United States for not reporting an American customer of his bank?
I was reading about this case in the news - Former Executive of Loyal Bank Ltd Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud the United States by Failing to Comply with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act
...
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Has anyone been convicted of campaign finance violations by paying an informant before an election? [closed]
The Atlantic reports
In pleading guilty to violations of campaign-finance laws, Cohen said that the then-candidate Trump had directed him to do so, arranging payments to two women who alleged ...
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Does Florida have a law which states that unmarried women are not allowed to go parachuting on Sundays?
KHSB (NBC News) (2011) has a self-explanatory headline:
No unmarried woman can parachute on Sundays is just one of Florida's most bizarre laws
CNN talks about this law in "World's strangest laws" (...
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Was Paul Manafort exonerated for the crimes he’s now charged with?
Andrew Napolitano just said this on Fox News regarding the trial of Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort:
Here’s Manafort’s defense: I was investigated for all this by the government 8 years ago ...
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0
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Are some vegetables from China being labeled as "Product of New Zealand" in Australia?
There are a number of claims going around on Facebook that foods purchased in Australia which are labelled as being from New Zealand are from China. This 2014 article in Macro Business explains:
...
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Does Russia consider it unconstitutional to extradite its citizens?
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said this to ABC regarding why President Trump is not going to demand that Putin extradite the 25 Russians indicted by Special Counsel Mueller:
It’s ...
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Are home owners required by law to connect gas in Victoria, Australia?
The One Step Off The Grid website claims that home owners in Victoria are required to connect to the gas network. It does not give an easy way to verify this claim.
Did you know Victoria’s building ...
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Will the 2019 EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market ban memes?
There have been lots of reports recently about how the EU are trying to ban memes. For example:
Trusted reviews
The European Union (EU) is pressing ahead with efforts to ban online memes under new ...
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Did a senior U.S. Justice Department official state that 3- and 4-year-olds can learn immigration law well enough to represent themselves in court?
The following article—dating from March 5, 2016—in The Washington Post titled, “Can a 3-year old represent herself in immigration court? This judge thinks so.” is now making the rounds across the ...
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Melanie Shaw secret trial and incarceration [closed]
I've seen this post a few times on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/608847352/posts/10155395745027353/
It claims Melanie Shaw made accusations about members of the Tory party and has been tried ...
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Did 64,000 married Indian men take their own lives in 2012 after charges of domestic abuse?
Section 498a of the Indian penal code makes it an offence for a husband or his family to subject his wife to cruelty or harassment.
Hridaya-Nest of Family Harmony is a Men's Rights organisation that ...
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Do the owners of the typefaces Garamond, Times New Roman and Georgia charge businesses who use them?
I received this in the Product Hunt newsletter today:
Little known fact: your favorite fonts aren't free.
The owners of your favorite fonts – Garamond, Times New Roman, Georgia – charge ...
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Did Mueller indict a Russian company that didn't exist?
Conservative author Dinesh D'Souza just tweeted this:
Is Mueller this dumb? Or does he think the press is too dumb to notice he indicted a Russian company that doesn’t even exist?
This is a ...
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Is it illegal for pharmacists to tell their patients that their drugs are cheaper than their co-pay if they pay cash without using their insurance?
I read in the news article Why do the insured pay more for prescriptions? (mirror):
Eight states (including Texas) have enacted legislation authorizing pharmacists to tell their patients that their ...
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Has Disney sued itself and won?
In this video Deadmau5 claims that:
There are parts of Disney that actually sue other parts of Disney, and win.
Is this true and what are the details of these court cases?
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Has the Americans with Disabilities Act reduced employment for disabled workers?
I recently heard someone claim that, despite its intentions, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has actually reduced employment for disabled workers, because companies now fear lawsuits ...
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Does saying "sorry" after an accident count as legal admission of fault?
It is common knowledge that after a car accident (presumably other types too), one shouldn't say they are sorry to the other person. While probably intended as an expression of empathy, the claim is ...
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Is it true that in New York City there is a special law stating "It is Illegal to break the law"?
According to the book Pocket Pal Freaky Facts, as published by Hinkler Books Pty Ltd (June 1, 2009), in the section under freaky laws, there is a law in New York City making it illegal to break the ...
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Is there a death penalty if you jump off a building (and don't die) in New York?
According to dumblaws.com, in New York (City? State? or both?):
The penalty for jumping off a building is death.
It is the second most-voted weird law in NY in ranker.com also:
If Jumping Off ...
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Does Toomey's amendment to the GOP Tax Bill only benefit Hillsdale College?
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just said this on the Senate floor, regarding the Republican Tax Bill:
One college, Hillsdale College, has been exempted from taxes on colleges with large ...
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Does the US Federal Government want to cut down and burn trees on a property to protect an extinct frog?
Edward Poitevent made a claim on the Tucker Carlson show that the government wants to take his land in Louisiana without paying, cut down all trees and burn it in the name of protecting an extinct ...
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Is it illegal to own a rabbit in Queensland unless you're a magician?
From all that is interesting How Bunny Rabbits Took Over Australia — And What The Government Is Doing About It
In Queensland, Australia, it’s illegal to own a pet rabbit unless
you’re a magician. ...
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Was a patent ever granted for a method of making lines thicker?
I've found some sources that claim IBM had gotten a patent on making a line thicker using digital means. Does such a patent exist or is this a myth?
Here is one example of the claim from a Forbes ...
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Are fully automatic firearms very hard for civilians to obtain in the USA?
In the wake of another horrific mass shooting incident in the USA which appears to have involved an automatic weapon I was surprised the read the following in the Weekly Standard:
Automatic rifles, ...
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Would Egale's recommendations for law reform make anal sex legal at any age in Canada?
LifeSiteNews claims recommendations made by Egale, a Canadian LGBT advocacy organization, on changing laws would allow anal sex 'anytime, any place, with anyone'.
Specifically, it claims that the age ...
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Does Canadian law allow the government to take children away from parents that don't accept their gender identity?
Canada to take kids from Parents that don’t recognize Gender Confusion
A Canadian province has passed a law that gives rights to the government to take away children from families that don’t accept ...
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