archery law

[alanesq]

A friend heard a radio program where they mentioned that here in Nottingham there is an old law that is still in force that you are entitled to claim 20 mins a week paid leave to practise longbow

If this is true I would love to apply for it at work (in fact there are 2 of use interested) just to see what happens ;-)

Any idea how would I go about finding out about this as I can't find anything about it on the internet?
I understand there are lots of laws like this in England but it seems difficult to find out much about them???

I have contacted Nottingam University law department (no reply) and the "Tales of Robin Hood" (visitor centre in Nottingham) but they have no idea
BTW - The person who heard it on radio has no idea what station it was on

[Jenny]

That would be pretty cool! Sorry, I don't know anything about the law to help you out though.


~Jenny~

[djthompson]

Isn't there another one in Gloustershire (poss somewhere else).

You're allowed to shoot a welshman with a longbow on (a sunday?) if you are in sight of the clock tower?

D

[bundy]

Originally Posted by djthompson

Isn't there another one in Gloustershire (poss somewhere else).

You're allowed to shoot a welshman with a longbow on (a sunday?) if you are in sight of the clock tower?

D

Don't know about Gloucester, but it's definatly true of Hereford. If you see a welshman in the city limits(or it could be cathedral close) on a sunday morning (or could be afternoon) its supposedly your civic duty to shoot him.

Ok so i'm a little vague, but it was the highlight of my tour of the shire hall when I was 10. Oh and since it's superceded by common law (ie murders illegal) you can't actually do it. Besides you'd end up shooting half the people there for being of welsh descent - despite our supposed hatred for the welsh.

[CPlater1]

There is another one where you can shoot a Scotsman in York on a Sunday (or something like that)

There is also the law that every English male over the age of 14 must partake in 2 hours longbow practice a week while being supervised by the local clergy.

Chris

[Little Miss Purple]

The York one is only within the limits of the city walls

[Jimbo]

We have a resident lawyer over on British Blades so I put the question to the honourable gentlemen (! ), as detailed here.

His response:

Originally Posted by Danzo on BB

They do exist in law, simply because they have never been repealed. I've posted this site....

www.dumblaws.com

....before but it's always good for a laugh!



If it came to court the likely result would be that the court would decide the the law was unenforceable after such a long period of inaction. There isn't really any legal basis for doing this, and laws have been dragged up from the past in order to 'get people' before, most notably in the famous 'Oz Trial' of the 1960's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oz_(magazine)

Where a blasphemy offence dormant for a couple of hundred years was revived.

Worth a try for 20 minutes a week shooting arrows whilst getting paid though!



Danzo

The DumbLaws link leads us here

[gino]

Being a welshman myself I'm glad to hear that these laws are now inactive...

[Raedwald]

Originally Posted by CPlater1

There is also the law that every English male over the age of 14 must partake in 2 hours longbow practice a week while being supervised by the local clergy.

Chris

Well, as a licenced Lay Reader I suppose I'm "almost" clergy, so this is one law I do adhere to!

[Matt Easton]

Here are links to some English medival and tudor archery laws I have dug up and posted on our (Schola Gladiatoria) forum and the English Warbow forum:
http://www.fioredeiliberi.org/phpBB2...opic.php?t=225
http://www.englishwarbow.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=216

Regards,
Matt