Blue Laws have been with us for a long time. The following is a listing of 45 Blue Laws as recorded by the Rev. Samuel Andrew Peters, a native of Connecticut and a graduate of Yale. Peters was driven out of the colonies in 1774 for his steadfast Toryism. The Blue Laws appear in his book, History of Connecticut, which was published in England in 1781. There is some question as to whether the laws which follow were actually "Blue Laws", or, perhaps were written in spite.
Mr. Walther F. Prince wrote in the American History Association's annual volume (no date given) that the following laws grouped in part Ia were without question true: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, and 43.
Those laws in part Ib were at least in part correct: 19 (first part) and 35 (so far as pertains to Common Prayer, festivals, dancing, and cards).
And, those in part II were substantially true (?): 1, 4 (also appears in the list as True), 11, 24, 25, 26, 27, 36 and 41.
Mr. Prince believed that the following were either misstatements or wholly spurious (in his words), part III.: 7, 12, 18, 19 (second part), 20, 29, 33, 35 (in part) and 45.
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(The numbers preceding the particular blue law is from the ranking in the original document.)
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BLUE LAWS(Ia), without question being true.
2) From the determination of the assembly no appeal shall be made.
3) The governor is amendable to the voice of the people.
4) The governor shall have only a single vote in determining any question, except a casting vote when the assembly may be equally divided.
6) Conspiracy against this dominion shall be punished with death.
8) The judges shall determine controversies without a jury.
9) Whoever attempts to change or overturn this dominion shall suffer death.
10) No one shall be a freeman, or give a vote, unless he be converted and a member in full communion of one of the churches allowed in this dominion.
13) No Quaker or dissenter from the established worship of this dominion shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates or any officer.
14) No food or lodging shall be afforded a Quaker, Adamite, or other heretic.
15) if any person turns Quaker he shall be banished and not suffered to return but upon pain of death.
16) No priest shall abide in this dominion; he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return. Priest may be seized by anyone without a warrant.
17) No one to cross a river but with an authorized ferryman.
21) The Sabbath shall begin at sunset on Saturday.
22) To pick an ear of corn growing in a neighbor's garden shall be deemed theft.
23) A person accused of trespass in the night shall be judged guilty, unless he clear himself by his oath.
28) No minister shall keep a school.
30) Men stealers shall suffer death.
31) Whoever wears clothes trimmed with gold, silver, or bone lace, above two shillings by the yard, shall be presented by the grand jurors, and the selectmen shall tax the offender at three hundred pounds estate.
32) A debtor in prison swearing he has no estate shall be let out and sold to make satisfaction.
34) Whoever brings cards or dice into this dominion shall pay a fine of five pounds.
37) When parents refuse their children convenient marriages, the magistrates shall determine the point.
38) The selectmen, on finding children ignorant, may take them away from their parents and put them into better hands, at the expense of their parents.
39) Fornication shall be punished by compelling marriage, or as the court may think proper.
40) Adultery shall be punished with death.
42) A wife shall be deemed good evidence against her husband.
43) No man shall court a maid in person, or by letter, without first obtaining consent of her parents; A five pound penalty for the first offense; ten pounds for the second; and for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the court.
BLUE LAWS (Ib), at least in part true.
19) No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath day.
35) No one shall read Common Prayer, keep Christmas or Saints' Days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music except the drum, trumpet, and jew's-harp.
BLUE LAWS (II), substantially true.
1) The governor and magistrates convened in general assembly are the supreme power under God of this independent dominion.
4) The governor shall have only a single vote in determining any question, except a casting vote when the assembly may be equally divided.
11) No man shall hold any office who is not sound in the faith and faithful to this dominion, and whoever gives a vote to such a person shall pay a fine of one pound; for a second offence he shall be disfranchised.
24) When it appears that an accused has confederates, and he refuses to discover them, he may be racked.
25) No one shall buy or sell lands without permission of the selectmen.
26) A drunkard shall have a master appointed by the selectmen, who are to debar him from the liberty of buying and selling.
27) Whoever publishes a lie to the prejudice of his neighbor shall sit in the stocks or be whipped fifteen stripes.
36) No gospel minister shall join people in marriage; the magistrates only shall join in marriage, as they may do it with less scandal to Christ's Church.
41) A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of ten pounds; a woman that strikes her husband shall be punished as the court directs.
BLUE LAWS (III) either misstatements or wholly spurious.
7) Whoever says there is power and jurisdiction above and over this dominion shall suffer death and loss of property.
12) Each freeman shall swear by the blessed God to bear true allegiance to this dominion, and that Jesus is the only King.
18) No one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting.
19) No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath day.
20) No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting day.
29) Every ratable person who refuses to pay his proportion to the support of the minister of the town or parish shall be fined by the court two pounds and four pounds every quarter, until he or she pay the rate to the minister.
33) Whoever sets a fire in the woods, and it burns a house shall suffer death, and persons suspected of this crime shall be imprisoned without benefit of bail.
35) No one shall read Common Prayer, keep Christmas or Saint's Days, make minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music except the drum, trumpet, and jew's-harp. 45) Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap.
BLUE LAWS Missing from Mr. Princes' list
Missing from Mr. Princes' list (or from the author on the subject of Blue Laws as written in The Standard Reference Work , Chicago Progressive Educational Society, 1913):
5) The assembly of the people shall not be dismissed by the governor, but shall dismiss itself.
44) Married persons must live together or be imprisoned.
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Now before we judge our forefathers too harshly, let's consider some of the laws that were in force in merry old England at the time (and, from whence the settlers came). In England, a woman was first strangled then burned for making counterfeit shillings. In fact the penalties for counterfeiting were extremely severe; a man was sentenced to "be boiled to death in oil; not thrown in the vessel at once, but with a pulley or rope to be hanged under the armpits, and then to be let down into the oil by degrees; first the feet, then the legs, and so to boil his flesh from his bones alive."
Other crimes and their punishment included: stealing a shilling, filch (to appropriate casually, or furtively) a piece of cloth from a weaver, steal a hawk, or kill a deer in the King's forest -- hanging.
In the colonies one of Noah Webster's kin found herself at odds with the law. In the 1600's, Mary Reeve Webster and her husband, one of John Webster's sons settled in Hadley, Massachusetts. She for some unknown reason was accused of witchcraft and has dragged from her house, stripped naked and searched for "witch marks" on her teats. She was then sent to jail and brought to trial in Boston in April 1683. Although the court acquitted her, she was blamed for any and all misfortunes that befell the good citizens. In one instance when Lt. Philip Smith was abed and dying, Mary was dragged from her house and hung up until near dead, cut down, rolled in snow and then buried in a snow bank. Somehow she survived, but the good Phil Smith died. No other records of witchcraft and Mrs Webster are found. (This is from the book, Noah Webster, by Harlow Giles Ungar, pp 5, 1998, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.) In the other colonies punishment was equally harsh. To wit: "That no man use unlawful oaths, taking the name of God in vain, curse, or ban, upon pain of severe punishment for the first offence so committed, and for the second, to have a bodkin (Basically a blunt sewing needle to which a thread could be inserted in the eye and then withdrawn, leaving the thread behind.) thrust through his tongue; and if he continue the blaspheming of God's holy name, for the third time so offending he shall be brought to a martial court, and there receive censure of death for his offence.
Every man and woman shall repair in morning to the divine service and sermons preached, upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the sad allowance and also be whipped; and for the third to suffer death.
That what person or persons soever shall feloniously kill a tame hogg, being none of his owne, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall suffer as a felon (i.e., death)."
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Fast forward to the nineteenth century and read Cowboy Justice
. Man is not a very civilized creature. In fact one of my favorite quotes from Johnny Johnson is, " Civilization is only three meals deep". Think about it.
Friedrich A. Von Hayek in his book,
So as we revisit Blue Laws, which by the way may have been named after the blue paper they were printed on, or perhaps referring to the blue flag of the Covenanters of Scotland, or maybe from Presbyterian, Sir. Hudibras, being called "true blue", we should reflect on how as Hayek said, " It is because nearly everybody wants it that we are moving in this direction (socialism). There are no objective facts which make it inevitable. ... The main question is where this movement will lead us. Is it not possible that if the people whose convictions now give it an irresistible momentum began to see what only a few yet apprehend, they would recoil in horror and abandon the quest which for half a century has engaged so many people of good will? Where these common beliefs of our generation will lead us is a problem not for one party but for every one of us -- a problem of momentous significance." (pp5).
The majority of the above is from
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