Sticking a postage stamp on an envelope upside down is considered treason.
If a postage stamp shows the head of the queen, which they all do, it is considered treason.
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Women are permitted to go topless in Liverpool provided they work as a clerk in a shop selling tropical fish.
Urban legend? No one on the Liverpool City Council will give credence to a law along these lines. Seems like there must have been a story behind this one…
Any whale washed up on the shore is the property of the Queen, so she can use its bones for her corset.
The head of said whale, however, belongs to the King. This law dates back to 1307. The original law read something along the lines of “The King shall have throughout the realm, whales and great sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm, except in certain places privileged by the King.”
Royal Navy ships entering the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.
Although not enforced in modern times, this law is still on the books. In fact, there is an annual ceremony of the Constable’s Dues, where the Royal Navy moors one of its boats alongside the Tower Pier and the captain delivers his “tax”.
It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
Anyone who dies in Parliament is entitled to a state funeral. Rumor has it that if you appear sick, they escort you out quickly! Yet another law that was still on the books until a massive “cleanup” of archaic laws was performed in 2012.
It is illegal for taxi drivers to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
This is part of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, sections 33 and 34: Public Conveyances. An interesting discussion regarding this law (and a few others) can be found here.