In 1895, London had a strange rule about husbands beating their wives. The City of London introduced a bylaw targeting wife-beating at night. It prohibited men from beating their wives between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. But there was an important catch. The rule was largely about noise disturbing the neighbors, not a modern ban on domestic violence. Wife-beating was already subject to assault laws, but domestic abuse was often treated as a private family matter. The bylaw gave authorities another way to deal with nighttime violence and the disturbance it caused. So the viral claim that men could legally beat their wives during the day is misleading. Still, the fact that such a bylaw existed in Victorian London is remarkable.