Tag: illegal

The Auctioning of Spouses During the 18th Century and 19th Century

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Traditionally, if a wife was no longer desired by her husband, he would lead her in her Sunday best, to the towns market square, laiden with a rope halter wrapped around her neck or waste, to be sold to the highest bidder. Women were exhibited the same way livestock are sold during the modern day. Over the course of the 18th and 19th century, approximately 300 transactions of a wife for money were exchanged within the U.K. The most recent exchange took place in 1928, in Blackwood, Wales for £1.00. Technically wife sales were illegal but because wives were considered the property of their husbands, English society turned a blind eye to the act

The Legality of Retail Stores Demanding to See a Purchase Receipt

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It is illegal for a private company (e.g. Walmart etc.) to demand to see a customers receipt at the point of leaving the premises (e.g. Walmart greeter demanding to see customer receipt as they leave the store) however the private corporation does have the legal authority to detain a customer due to “shopkeeper’s/merchant’s privilege” as long as reasonable suspicion has been met (e.g. customer refusing to show a receipt while leaving with product in hand etc.). Reasonable suspicion deems that the retailer must have a reasonable belief, based upon specific facts, evidence, and circumstances, that the customer has committed theft. For this reason, randomly selecting customers (e.g. customer with no product in hand leaving the store etc.) to show a receipt without any suspicion is problematic. Membership retail establishments (e.g. Costco or Sam’s Club etc.) can demand to see proof of membership as well as proof of receipt because when members sign up they agree to specific terms and conditions. Refusal to comply with store policy may result in consequences, up to and including being denied future entry and/or membership termination

The Fashion Police of North Korea

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In North Korea, music that is not state approved is illegal, international telephone calls are illegal, smiling in public upon the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s death is illegal, and perhaps most bizarre, leather coats are illegal, with this last law passed in December of 2021 to dissuade North Korean citizens from imitating Kim Jong Un who wore a black cow hide coat in public on numerous occasions. This style of black leather coat became massively popular after Kim wore it in news media coverage in 2019 and because of this, imitation coats have become more readily available in North Korea. Surprisingly, fashion police are employed by the North Korean state to patrol and search for anyone wearing this style of garment as well as to search and help take down companies found manufacturing the coat

The Ecologically Destructive Technique of Blast Fishing and Cyanide Fishing

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Blast fishing was introduced in Southeast Asia post World War II, by American soldiers who threw grenades into bodies of water to yield a large cache of fish, a technique which is used  during the modern day to produce fish as a food resource in local markets. Dynamite is often used but any explosive will perform the task effectively, even improvised devices which utilize an explosive chemical within a glass drinking bottle with an improvised wick lit by a cigarette. Cyanide fishing is an ecologically destructive method of catching fish in which a diver takes bottled cyanide and pumps it into reef areas where fish reside, stunning the fish and making them easier to catch, so that they can be extracted for the pet and live fish trades. These techniques result in coral reefs losing their color and ultimately dying, eliminating a major food source for marine life within the region. Both methods are extremely damaging to the ecosystem and left unchecked, can decimate entire ecosystems within a few short years. Portions of and entire coral reefs which have slowly built over thousands of years can be destroyed in a matter of seconds by using either of these harmful techniques. Fortunately, both methods of fishing are illegal in most of Southeast Asia

The Imaginary Concept of Acquiring a “License to Kill”

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Everything performed during espionage is illegal as the act of espionage itself is by definition illegal which is why the imaginary concept of a “license to kill” is irrelevant and redundant as any execution performed during a spy operation is considered a legal act by the state of the officers nationality (e.g. the U.K., the U.S., France etc.), as these actions are always considered prudent and necessary of an officer in the field being that officers have extensive training for situations which they may encounter during a mission

The First Time a Woman and a Queen Illegally Published a Book in England

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Queen Catherine Parr was an outspoken evangelist and believed that God had selected her to marry King Henry VIII so that she could spread the good news of the new religion of Protestantism, even going so far as to publish a book entitled “Prayers or Meditations” in 1545 which consisted of a collection of Latin religious texts translated into English, an unprecedented act as it marked the first time a book was published in English by a woman, compounded by the fact that this was the first time a book was published by an English queen. The book became a best seller instantaneously but the publishing of this book was technically illegal as women were not permitted to spread the word of God, and especially not in the English language

Antiquitous English Law Which Sentenced Capital Punishment for Imagining the Death of the Monarchy

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In antiquity, it was once considered treasonous and by definition illegal to imagine in one’s own head, the death of a monarch. This confusing and impossible to enforce judicial decree was enacted in 1351 as the Treason Act during the reign of King Edward III. The law distinguished between high treason, which was an act of disobedience directly against the crown, and petty treason, which was minor disloyalty. The Treason Act law states that a person is guilty when “a man doth compass or imagine the death of our lord the King, or of our lady his Queen or of their eldest son and heir

Law Enforcement Exploiting Informants

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Most informants for law enforcement are people who have been caught doing something illegal (e.g. dealing illicit drugs) and want to avoid a criminal record and/or time spent in prison. These people cooperate with law enforcement and typically get themselves deeply indebted. Informants reside in places they normally wouldn’t spend time in and consume illicit drugs which they normally wouldn’t ingest to make connections and meet their quota for the amount of arrests and raids law enforcement requires of them. Informants are typically vulnerable people who are taken advantage of because they know they have little or no option otherwise. This exploitation by law enforcement is strikingly similar to how a criminal takes advantage of a sex worker. Neither law enforcement nor the criminal care about the person being exploited, they only want what they need and if this need is not met, they hang these exploited persons out to dry. It is not unusual for police to press the initial charges that the person working with them was trying to evade to begin with when their demands are not met which is similar in tactic to how a criminal at best beats and at worst kills the sex worker working for them