Paris Trouser Ban For Women Lifted After 213 Years

Paris Finally Lifts Trouser Ban For Women

An archaic French law banning women in Paris from wearing trousers has finally been repealed.

For nearly 214 years mademoiselles have only been legally allowed to wear trousers "if the woman is holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse," reports the Telegraph.

The law, which dates from November 1799, required ladies to ask special permission from the "préfecture de police" if they wished to wear "men's clothing".

This lady is particularly happy with the change in the law

According to the Connexion, a campaign to scrap the outdated legislation was launched in 2010 however it was not deemed a government priority.

France's minister of women's rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, took up the case last year and announced the lifting of the ban this week.

She said: "This ordinance is incompatible with the principles of equality between women and men, which are listed in the Constitution, and in France's European commitments.

"From that incompatibility follows the implicit abrogation of the ordinance."

Not to be outdone by the French, here are some of our own legal oddities...

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