33. It’s been legal to marry a dead person since the 19th century in France
Don’t worry, this is anywhere near as bad as it sounds. Since the 19th century, marrying a corpse – aka necromancy – has been legal in France. This dates back to times when being born out of wedlock was a social taboo. If your husband died in battle before you could get married, and you were pregnant, necromancy made your children legitimate. The dead’s consent is established by family members or an existing engagement. The law took its specific, current form in 1959 after a dam burst, killing 423 people. As recently as 2017, a victim of terrorism married his partner posthumously.
