Laws?

The UK Daily Mail finds the British to be a law-breaking lot:

We may have a reputation as being a reserved lot, but the British are actually a nation of rule-breakers.

A study has found that many people break 260 rules a year - but we can't really claim to be dare-devils as, for most of us, this brush with danger involves using a neighbour's bin or pinching stationary from the office.

Research shows that the average Brit knowingly breaks five rules every week, which amounts to 16,250 acts of rebellion in the average adult lifetime.

All of these "laws" fall into the malum prohibitum category: wrong simply because someone has written a law prohibiting a behavior. Many of them, such as not tipping at a restaurant, aren't even malum prohibitum laws, but customs. Here's the list:

1. Crossing a pedestrian crossing when man is red - 33 per cent
2. Taking sachets from cafes - 30
3. Not recycling properly - 27
4. Take stationery from work - 23
5. Passing parking tickets to others to save them money - 22
6. Not tipping in restaurants - 21
7. Pocketing change when given wrong amount - 21
8. Sprayed yourself with tester perfume instead of buying your own - 21
9. Eating or drinking at the wheel - 18
10. Not clearing your table at a fast food restaurant - 14
11. Used someone else's WIFI - 14
12. Putting your feet up on the train - 13
13. Putting rubbish in a neighbours bin if yours is full - 12
14. Watching pirate videos - 12
15. Cycling on a pavement - 11
16. Downloading music illegally - 11
17. Using your mobile while driving - 10
18. Throwing down cigarette butts - 9
19. Driving in a bus lane - 9
20. Dropping litter in the street - 9

As you can see, hardly a bunch of things that anyone would take all that seriously.