Laws are an important way to keep society in check, but some are downright weird and unnecessary. While most laws are pretty universal, every place has a few particularly weird ones on the books. Did you know it’s illegal to steal used kitchen grease in North Carolina? Or that you’re not allowed to give fish alcohol in Ohio? It makes us wonder what brought these laws into existence because we have a hard time figuring out their reasoning.

While we can poke fun at laws from other places all day, Milwaukee is no exception when it comes to having some seriously strange rules, and you may have even broken some unknowingly. Here are seven crazy laws in Milwaukee that totally leave us scratching our head and wondering if we’re criminals.

1. If you look "offensive," you can't be out in public during the day.
manfred majer/Flickr
We wonder who decides this one.
2. If you don't return your library books, your library card will be held hostage.
Christine und Hagen Graf/Flickr
Book lovers, we know you've been there! How dare they take your card?
3. It's illegal to serve margarine instead of butter.
sam chills/Flickr
Wisconsin Statute 98.17 has been in place since 1895 and is still a real law. Restaurants are prohibited from selling margarine, so if that’s your go-to, you might be risking it!

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4. All cheese must be "highly pleasing."
Tom Ipri/Flickr
We love cheese as much as any other Milwaukeean, but there are rules for it? All Grade A cheddar must be "highly pleasing," whereas Grade B only needs to be "fairly pleasing." Who gets to judge this... and where can we sign up?
5. Business hours must operate under Central Time.
Edward Webb/Flickr
Although we’re uncertain why a business would be operating under a different time zone while in Milwaukee.
6. All livestock gets the right-of-way.
CS/Flickr
You went ahead of a cow? You’re rude and you’re breaking the law!
7. If two trains meet, neither should proceed until the other has.
tristangage/Flickr
Wait a minute…what?! We can’t tell if we’ve broken this one or not because it makes absolutely no sense.

Have you broken any of these laws? Let us know in the comments – we won’t rat you out!

Know what else is weird? Milwaukeeans. Check out some of our strangest habits.

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