Most people may find it difficult to keep up with paperwork and keep everything updated. The same is true of our laws. The following list shows some of the laws still ‘on the books’. It would certainly be interesting to learn the circumstances that prompted the passage of some of this jurisprudence.
 

  • Baltimore City:  
    • Though you may spit on a city roadway, spitting on city sidewalks is prohibited.  
    • You may not curse inside the city limits. 
    • It’s illegal to throw bales of hay from a second-story window within the city limits. That gets you a $20 fine. 
    • It’s illegal to take a lion to the movies.  
    • It is necessary to document any services performed by a jackass. 
    • It is a park rule violation to be in a public park with a sleeveless shirt. $10 fine. This would include joggers that go shirtless.  
    • It is a violation of city code to sell chicks or ducklings to a minor within 1 week of the Easter holiday. 
    • There are regulations governing the disposal of hog’s heads, pet droppings and oyster shells. 
    • It’s illegal to block the sidewalk with a box. But the offense only carries a $1 fine. 
    • It’s illegal to play professional croquet before 2 p.m. on Sunday. The law also applies to professional quoits. 
    • It is illegal to mistreat oysters. 
    • It is illegal to wash, or scrub sinks no matter how dirty they get. 
  • Columbia:  
    • You cannot have an antenna exposed outside of your house, yet you can have a 25′ satellite dish.  
    • Though clotheslines are banned, clothes may be draped over a fence. 
  • Ocean City:  
    • A law from the early 1900’s prohibits men from going topless on the Boardwalk.  
    • Eating while swimming in the ocean is prohibited. 
  • Caroline County: 
    • It’s a $100 fine or six months in jail for “forecasting or pretending to foretell the future.” 
  • Halethorpe: 
    •  Kisses longer than one second are illegal. 
  • In Maryland: 
    • A woman may not go through her husband’s pockets while he is sleeping.  
    • Thistles may not grow in one’s yard.
    • Men may not buy drinks for female bartenders. 
    • It is illegal to sell condoms from vending machines with one exception: prophylactics may be dispensed from a vending machine only “in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises.” 
    • It is a violation to be in a public park with a sleeveless shirt. $10 fine. 
    • Maryland requires that alcohol beverage writers be certified as experts by an agency of the state before they can receive product samples, which it limits to three bottles per brand. 
  • Ocean City:  
    • A law from the early 1900’s prohibits men from going topless on the Boardwalk. Eating while swimming in the ocean is prohibited 
  • Rockville:  
    • “A person may not wade or otherwise immerse any part of his body in any City-owned fountain or pool, except in pools constructed, operated and maintained for the purpose of swimming.” 
    • It is illegal to swear while on the highway. Subject to a fine not exceeding $100 or imprisonment for 90 days or both. 
  • Cumberland: 
    • It is illegal to “knock or throw any stones or other missiles into or upon any public park or playground of the city or engage in any games or play likely to be dangerous to persons visiting therein.” 

 

Be careful out there, there may be an antiquated law that you unknowingly violate.