Photographer Olivia Locher (here‘s an interesting interview) has recently presented a new art project, “I Fought the Law”. This photo series captures a selection of what Ms Locher regards as the silliest regulations and prohibitions enacted by U.S. states.

Among the others, in California nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool and in Wisconsin it is illegal to serve apple pie in restaurants without cheese. The pictures are as beautiful as funny and deserve to be admired.

There is a certain tendency towards over-regulation in modern political polities, and that we know.The interplay of vested interests tend to produce “regulation à la carte”, and that we know. And yet this unfortunately doesn’t tell us how the idea that you need a government law to forbid people to ride a bike in a swimming pool crossed a law maker’s mind.