I am currently taking a History of the British Isles (including Ireland) course, as an elective.
One of our students in British. In passing, he brought up an old law that says at one point on the Welsh/English border it’s legal to shoot a Welshman with a bow and kill him as long as you’re both on the opposite sides of the border.
Does anybody know anything about this?
Only after sunset…in Chester. You have to use a licensed Welsh Longbow with 120lb draw weight. No Englishmen can draw such a bow. Yew betcha.
While crying, “Pluck yew!”
djm
They would if they were obeying the law requiring two hours of bow-practice a day for all able-bodied men over 15.
Well, there’s a feather in somebody’s cap. 
djm
I fart in your general direction!
And, of course, at the same time, flashing the “Flying V” (not the Gibson guitar).
Here are a couple of links to help you, Jack.
http://www.inthenewstoday.co.uk/some-obsolete-laws-that-are-still-prevalent-95.html
It seems that in 2008, there was an act placed before the House of Lords to repeal an accumulation of ancient laws. Many were related to Turnpikes. I wonder about this, as, although there are no turnpikes as such, there are now Toll Roads, specifically one Motorway bypassing Birmingham. The Act didn’t repeal the one about killing Welshmen in Chester. Or Scotsmen in York. But have a look at the link below.
Ah, those topless tropical fish-shops of old Liverpool. >sigh<
Every once in a while the light hearted subject of bygone laws crops up in the popular media. With their original intent lost in the mists of time these old laws now seem so absurd that they help raise a bit of a laugh. Some of the usual chestnuts I’ve noticed regularly making an appearance are:
It’s illegal to impersonate a Chelsea pensioner.
If you are a freeman of the City of London you are allowed
to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll and drive geese down Cheapside.
London taxis/hackney carriages must carry a bail of hay.
It’s illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour.
And (a personal favourite) it’s legal to shoot a Welshman in Chester with a bow as long as it’s after sunset.
But before you reach for your bow, your arrows and your return train ticket to Chester, that last one is apparently an urban myth rooted in a local byelaw which no longer offers protection. There are similar variants about shooting Scotsmen in York too but it’s probably best not to take chances and leave the whole shooting people with a longbow to your traffic jam induced fantasies
During the medieval period there was a huge concern that the great unwashed were a slovenly lot that preferred to spend their free time playing football, drinking, playing bowls, gambling on dice games and playing cards rather than practicing their archery. As a result a number of laws and edicts were passed over a four hundred year period that were designed to compel people to practice the longbow for “the benefit of the realm”.
For the sake of full disclosure I do use a 6ft, 70lb, Welsh longbow, my wife drinks “Longbow” but only because we can’t get the good stuff here, and if there are any Englishmen that need shooting…