alt Hacker NewsTranslating the Bible into English was not illegal. I very much doubt Bede or the monks of Lindisfarne were breaking the law!
The same for heliocentrism. No one took Copernicus to court.
With silk and rubber the smuggling was illegal, the actual cultivation was not
Grave robbing was illegal (and still is) but dissection was not.
Needle exchange was illegal in some US states but was legal in many other countries.
Reference to support the claim that translating the bible into English was banned (William Tyndale was executed for doing it): https://nobimu.no/en/subject-articles/banned-translations-of...
You can nitpick that "the church executing people for it" is not exactly the same as "illegal" but that's missing the point.