Unusual NH Laws

The following is a sampling of some of the unusual laws on the books in the Granite State.

• You may not tap your feet, nod your head, or in any way keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or cafe.
• You cannot sell the clothes you are wearing to pay off a gambling debt.
• It is considered an offense to check into a hotel under an assumed name. (source)
• It is illegal to pick seaweed up off of the beach. (source)
• Any cattle that crosses state roads must be fitted with a device to gather its feces.
• You may not run machinery on Sundays.
• On Sundays citizens may not relieve themselves while looking up.
• In the White Mountain National Forest, if a person is caught raking the beaches, picking up litter, hauling away trash, building a bench for the park, or any similar activity without a permit, he/she may be fined $150 for ''maintaining the national forest without a permit''.
• Things people can keep when filing for bankruptcy include one cook stove, one wood stove, one sewing machine, private militia uniforms and arms, Bibles, one hog and one pig, six sheep and the fleeces of the same, one cow, one yoke of oxen, and one church pew. (source)