Quirks · 13 September 2026
Which weird London laws are actually still law?
Twelve of the laws people tell you about London, read against the statute book. Four are real, three never existed, and in 2015 Parliament deleted the versions that covered everywhere else.
For each of 4 offences, the London provision runs unbroken from 1839 to 2026 while the provision covering the rest of England and Wales runs from 1847 and stops in 2015.
Show the numbers
| Offence | Where | From | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| beating a carpet | London | 1839 | still |
| beating a carpet | The rest of England and Wales | 1847 | 2015 |
| carrying a plank | London | 1839 | still |
| carrying a plank | The rest of England and Wales | 1847 | 2015 |
| flying a kite | London | 1839 | still |
| flying a kite | The rest of England and Wales | 1847 | 2015 |
| making an ice slide | London | 1839 | still |
| making an ice slide | The rest of England and Wales | 1847 | 2015 |
Sources: legislation.gov.uk revised statute book (OGL-3.0) · Changes to Legislation dataset (OGL-3.0) — full attribution
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