>>27698301>>27698980its a nice story, and one that undoubtedly is popular due to the fact that its a bit of a "fuck the man" loophole.
Unfortunately, actual research indicates that its a myth. There's not one single known instance of such weapon laws in the entirety of Germany (which it should be noted, didnt exist - it was about 300-350 independent principalities, each with their own laws ) being circumvented due to it being a "knife" instead of a sword. Also that doesn't explain its use in Poland, the Czech Republic, Moravia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the likes.
The closest to it getting around laws is a lot less of a fuck you to the law. It was a way of knife-makers to circumvent guild rulings which meant that the sword-smith's guilds held an economic monopoly. And we do have a vast body of evidence of the conflicts between cutlers, and swordsmiths' guilds for business.
you're right that the differentiation is in the method of hilt construction. (though in German areas, it was likely called a Malchus, not a falchion), but its not nearly as clear-cut. There are weapons with messer-like scale grips and peined pommel and cross without a nagel. There are even a rare few two-edged messers. Its not a black and white delineation, but a very, very blurry graduation with a lot in the middle.
and then you get the terminologies, and it gets even more of a nightmare, because they start to overlap even more. To use a venn diagram, its a complete nightmare:
