Afoul of the Law

As you walk about a foreign land you can learn a few things by just carefully reading the signs.  Here for instance:

It's a little hard to make out in this view but the top line reads:

Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996

Wait a minute.....there is a national law on cleaning up dog poop?

Why yes, yes there is.  And we mean business, buster

I especially like the part where it indicates that the law was only "by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons..."

I had never really contemplated the Spiritual aspects of dog hygeine, just goes to show how shallow and superficial our thinking is on many topics.

Naturally, this law applies only to England and Wales.  The Scots are so stiff necked about their quasi independence that they would not be governed by any accursed English Dog Fouling Law, and had to pass their own in 2003.  Aye, that'll show 'em

I am not sure just what it is about this that I find so....quaint.  Perhaps it is the notion of the monarch and her advisors deliberating upon and then enacting a national law on a matter that here in the States would be the subject of local ordinance and/or common sense.

As I wandered the byways and public walking paths of Britain I can report that this legislation is either amazingly effective or was never needed in the first place.  I saw absolutely no evidence of canine misdeeds.

Now the sheep, that's another story.