Blue Laws
statutes regulating personal and public conduct, particularly on the Sabbath; so
called because such laws (which originated in Virginia in 1624) reputedly were printed
on blue paper in the American colony of New Haven (1638-65). In his satirical A General History of Connecticut
(1781), the Tory clergyman Samuel Andrew Peters provided a list of 45 "blue laws"
allegedly drawn up by the zealous Puritan authorities. All of the Puritan colonies
of New England enforced strict observance of the Sabbath; in some colonies, expenditures
on clothing and personal adornment also were limited by statute. After the American
Revolution, blue laws generally fell into abeyance or were repealed. Many such statutes
remained on the books, however, and during the Prohibition movement of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, several states enacted new types of blue laws governing
the sale and use of liquor and tobacco and providing for local censorship.
Repeated legal challenges to the constitutionality of blue laws have been made in
the courts. A particular focus of controversy in recent years has been Sunday closing
laws, which mandate the closing of retail and other business establishments. Federal
courts have consistently ruled that Sunday closing laws constitute a valid exercise of
police power by state legislatures and that they do not violate constitutional guarantees
of religious liberty. In 1979, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear challenges to the Sunday closing laws of New Jersey and Texas, on the grounds that
any change in such laws must come through legislative action.
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HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
"Blue Laws," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2000
http://encarta.msn.com 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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