Rhode Island still has a pile of weird laws in effect: you can go to prison for challenging someone to a duel, there’s a dedicated statute for biting off a person’s limb, drivers are required to slow down for horses, Sunday liquor sales were banned outright until 2004, and jet ski wake-jumping has its own line in the code. Most of these provisions date back a century or more. A few are surprisingly recent.
Challenging Someone to a Duel Is Still a Felony
Under Rhode Island General Laws 11-12-2, anyone who challenges another person to a duel with a dangerous weapon, or accepts such a challenge, faces one to seven years in prison. No one has to actually show up. No one has to get hurt. Issuing the challenge is the crime.1Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws 11-12-2 – Challenging or Accepting Challenge to Duel
Dueling statutes were common across the country in the 1800s, when settling disputes with pistols was a genuine public safety problem. Most states eventually repealed theirs. Rhode Island never bothered. The provision sits in Title 11 alongside modern criminal offenses, technically enforceable if a prosecutor ever decided to pursue it.
Biting Off a Limb Has Its Own Statute
Most states handle violent crimes through general assault and battery laws. Rhode Island went further. State law carves out a specific provision for anyone who voluntarily bites off, cuts off, or disables another person’s limb, slits someone’s nose, ear, or lip, or puts out an eye. The penalty is one to twenty years in prison.2Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws 11-29-1 – Penalty for Mutilation or Disabling
The statute reads like a catalog of 18th-century tavern brawl injuries, and that’s probably what inspired it. Bar fights in colonial New England could get brutal enough that legislators apparently felt ordinary assault charges wouldn’t cut it. A modern prosecutor would most likely charge aggravated assault or mayhem instead, but this provision remains available and unrepealed.
Sunday Liquor Sales Were Banned Until 2004
Rhode Island held onto its Sunday “blue laws” longer than most New England states. Liquor stores were completely barred from opening on Sundays until 2004, when the legislature finally let them operate from noon to 6 p.m.3State of Rhode Island General Assembly. House Approves Sunday Liquor Sales The change was driven by border competition. Liquor retailers in Woonsocket were losing sales to Massachusetts stores just across the line that had already started opening on Sundays.
The hours were later expanded to start at 10 a.m. under a law signed by Governor Lincoln Chafee, again motivated by competition with neighboring Connecticut.4State of Rhode Island General Assembly. New Law Allows Liquor Sales at 10 A.M. on Sundays Remnants of the Sunday-restriction framework still live in Title 25 of the General Laws, governing holidays and days of special observance, though enforcement is effectively nonexistent.
You Have to Slow Down for Horses
Rhode Island law requires every driver approaching a horse on a public highway to reduce speed, proceed with caution, and stop if necessary to avoid frightening or striking the animal. Violators face a $25 fine for the first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense.5Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws 31-22-25 – Approaching Horses
The rule is less absurd than it sounds. Rhode Island still has equestrian communities, and horses on rural roads are not unheard of. What makes the statute odd is its specificity. The legislature didn’t fold it into general traffic safety provisions or leave it to judicial common sense. It’s a standalone section in the vehicle code, with its own fine schedule, devoted entirely to the relationship between a car and a horse. The $25 figure hasn’t been adjusted for inflation, either, which tells you how often it comes up.
Jet Ski Wake Jumping Is Specifically Banned
Rhode Island’s coastline and Narragansett Bay make recreational boating a way of life, and the legislature has responded with unusually detailed rules about what you can’t do on a jet ski. State law specifically prohibits weaving through congested vessel traffic and jumping the wake of another vessel unreasonably, classifying both as reckless operation.6Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws 46-27-2 – Regulation of Personal Watercraft A broader statute also bans reckless operation of any motorboat, vessel, or water ski in a way that endangers life or property.7Rhode Island General Assembly. Rhode Island General Laws 46-22-9 – Prohibited Operation
The personal watercraft statute also requires riders to wear a lanyard-style engine cutoff switch, prohibits operation after sunset, and bans anyone under a certain age from operating one without supervision. Doing donuts near a crowded dock isn’t just bad manners in Rhode Island. It’s a specifically defined violation.
Providence Noise Rules Get Oddly Specific
Providence has been tightening its entertainment noise rules in ways that go beyond a typical quiet-hours ordinance. Under recently advanced amendments, indoor music at establishments must stop by 9 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends, while outdoor music must end by 9 p.m. any night. Music audible beyond the walls of the venue, or exceeding 10 decibels above ambient noise, is treated as a violation of the city’s noise ordinance.8Providence City Council. Committee Advances Entertainment Law Updates That Expand Opportunities for Local Artists, Preserve Quality of Life in Neighborhoods
The same amendments created a licensing requirement for temporary entertainment events, capping them at nine per year per license holder. A venue that wants to host a tenth outdoor jazz night in a calendar year needs a different permit pathway. These rules came out of years of friction between neighborhood residents and nightlife venues.
Why These Laws Never Get Repealed
Cleaning up old statutes costs political capital no one wants to spend. A legislator who introduces a bill to repeal the dueling statute invites ridicule without gaining anything. A legislator who pushes to modernize Sunday sales laws faces opposition from religious groups, small business owners worried about staffing costs, and whoever benefits from the status quo. The result is that genuinely outdated laws stay on the books indefinitely while merely inconvenient ones get grudging updates only when border competition or economic pressure forces the issue.
Specificity is what keeps most of these archaic laws alive. The dueling law spells out the exact conduct and penalty. The horse-approach law gives you a dollar figure. The mutilation statute names the body parts. They’re weird, but they’re too precise to be struck down as unconstitutionally vague, and too obscure to attract repeal efforts. So they stay.