A piece of legislation whose title either intentionally or otherwise:-
1) Has
little or nothing to do with how it
will operate in practice. It may even be completely ineffective.
2) In practice does the exact opposite to the title.
Could also be described as a dud,
con, fraud or even surreal.
The term refers to a famous Monty Python sketch about a dead parrot.
"...the Attorney
General needs to look at this consultation
paper again. If he doesn't we could end up with
a piece of dead parrot legislation..."