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What are some of the weird/hilarious/stupid things that are legal in Germany but illegal in other countries (and vice versa)? (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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My buddy and I were discussing the allowed blood alcohol content for driving (purely hypothetically) and how it varies across countries and then we stumbled upon the question in the title. Would be curious to hear if you guys know any good examples.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I think BGB §18 was fascinating until it got revised/removed:
As far as I understood this, if you have to transport a corpse in Germany, you have to be a trustworthy person according to the German Civil Code (BGB). However, you do NOT have to be a trustworthy person to transport a skeleton. So if you see someone with a fresh corpse in the trunk of a car in Germany, you can rest assured. You can blindly trust this person. If, on the other hand, you see someone with a pile of skeletons in their car, then you should quickly take cover.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I wonder how they define "trustworthy" here and why is trust so important for this task

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

That's an entire thing in German law. You also need trustworthyness to own a gun or get a drivers license. It basically means that those aren't rights but privileges that can be taken away if you commit an offense which may or may not be directly related.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I'd like to see a person who applies for a gun license and needs to show that they are trustworthy and then says "and I am also going to cary a corpse in my car"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Can you post the original text? according to this official portal the §§15-20 have been removed from the law

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bgb/___15_bis_20.html

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Oh, that's a sad loss of a fun law... Well, I don't have an original text, since I was just pointed to a snippet of it a long time ago. It stuck with me because of how morbid it was.

I do have some memories on other fun implications of laws due to how specific they are. I can post some from memory if you like. Something about lawnmowers and defective cars for example.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

If this law existed, it probably was not § 18 BGB. According to this § 18 was about the time a person is considered to be dead. There are laws about the lacking reliability of people but these are as far as I know usually part of administrative law codes like e.g. § 35 GewO and not the BGB.