A NOTW Classic (December 2002)

Driver Leon Humphreys, upset at a minor traffic ticket he received, demanded in December 2002 that magistrates in Bury St. Edmunds, England, allow him to employ the ancient tradition of “trial by combat” — in which he would fight someone from the DMV (in England, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) over the righteousness of the ticket using samurai swords, Gurkha knives or heavy hammers. Despite Humphreys’ insistence that the tradition is still valid under European human rights legislation, the magistrates declined and in fact upped his fine and court costs 12-fold.