Well, it may be weird, but at least understandable. Its a longstanding common law practice, and I can see where that would be useful in places where land is commonly abandoned with no clear legal way to determine ownership. If some knight goes on Crusade, and the rest of the family dies of the plague, it makes sense for the next door neighbor to be able to claim that territory. I'm guessing that's how the practice got started......

Here, donkeys can't sleep in bathtubs, and hunting camels is prohibited. I can only assume those things were important or a frequent enough occurrence to warrant legislation?

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"I don't think we should be governing ourselves. What need is a king, and every now and then if the king’s not doing a good job, we kill him." - George Carlin