Here’s another digest of some articles I collected this week that are either funny, interesting, or just plain weird.

1. Wiltshire vicar revives ancient archery law – BBC
   A vicar in England has relied on an unrepealed law from the middle ages to require all men in her village to report to archery practice. Residents complying with the law were rewarded with a BBQ. No word on what happened to the violators.
2. San Diego Christian lawyers lose bids to be judges – CBS
   A quartet of Christian lawyers vowing to be “God’s Ambassadors on the bench” will not be donning judicial robes — at least not in this electoral cycle. Critics raised concerns that the lawyers’ religious agenda would threaten the impartiality of the court system and violate the separation of church and state. Nevertheless, the candidates won between 35-40% of the votes in their respective districts.
3. Cop Caught Flashing Lights, Speeding To Get Coffee – CBS
   A New York City traffic cop is under investigation for abusing his power to get to a Dunkin Donuts.  The donut-desiring cop was spotted unnecessarily using his emergency lights, speeding, blowing through stop signs, and weaving in and out of traffic, all while chatting on his cell phone. When a city councilman caught this misbehaviour on camera, the cop stopped to give him a ticket for his troubles!
4. Predictions are fine, but there are better ways to protect a population – The Guardian
   After a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Abruzzo, killings hundreds, the Italian government swung into action. Its response was to issue manslaughter indictments for seismologists who failed to predict the quake! Not surprisingly, the international scientific community is protesting the charges, given that earthquakes are presently impossible to predict.

The previous installment of Weird Legal News is here.