Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-05-18

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possessed another Land of Promise,
and had been nurtured in a very diff
feTent kind of civilization from that
of the Pentateuch.
These laws, far more Judaical than
Christian, had been in operation,
socially more than legally, in New
England, for several years, when, in
1916, it was resolved by the General
Court of Connecticut. of which the
Jurisdiction included a wider range
than the present limits of that State.
to make a collection of all the laws
then in force that differed in any re-
spect from the laws of England, and
that they should be revised, digested,
and incorporated into one code. Mr..
Roger Ludlow, of Hartford, one of
the magistrates of the colony, was
intrusted with the task. He spent
four years over it, very industriously,
and in 1850 presented the code to the
General Court, which approved of it
as the law of the Connecticut Colo
nies. This code remained in opera
ton until 1856, when Sir Edward
/ Andres, the new Governor sent out
| by King James IL, suspended the
/ Charter of the Colony, as well as the
Puritanic laws, and for a time re-
/ established the laws of England.
The laws so cOdified by Roger Lud-
low were the famous "Blue Laws"
The Americans, always happy in the
bestowal of nicknames, gave them
/ this appellation in derisiOn, and it
has adhered to them too tightly to
be ever shaken off. The phrase was
suggested by the old English phrase
of the blues" and blue-devils,"
and the common vulgarism "to look
blue" under sorrow, disappointment,
or calamity. These blue laws were
of five kindS-general, theological,
municipal, commercial, and personal.
1t is only the latter that offer any
peculiarity, or that need any de-
scription for the former kinds were
mainly of the same character as the
laws of all civilized countries of the
time, and were closely founded upon
the written and unwritten laws of
England. Their whole gist and pur-
pose were summarized in one signifi-
cant paragraph by Roger Ludlow:
at is therefore ordered by this
cOurte, and by the authority thereof,
that noe mans life shall bee taken
away; that noe mans honor or good
name shall be stained; that noe mans
person shall be arrested, restrained,
baunished, dismembered, nor in any
way punished; that noe man shall
be deprived of his wife or children
that noe mans goods or estate shall
be taken away from him, nor any
ways endammaged, under color of
law or countenance of authority, un-
less it bee by the virtue or equity of
some express law of the country war
ranting the same, established by
general courte and sufficiently pub
lished or, in case of the defect of a
LdIO an any particular case, By the
Word Of Cod"
By 1.-THE Word of God" the Puri-
tans meant the Old Testament rather
than the New, as will appear from
the sanguinary severity of their en-
actments against offences which the
New Testament would have treated
more leniently, and as contrasted
with the charity and mercy eXhib-
tied to the woman taken in adultery.
The adulterer and the adulteress were
both to be put to death, and even
the incorrigible Sabbath-breaker was
to be subjected to the same penalty,
though we believe there is no in
stance on record of its having been
inflicted. A few extracts from this
by no means Christian code, will
show alike the spirit of the Blue
Laws and the authority upon which
they were founded.
"I. If any man, after legal con-
viction, shall have or worship any
other god but the Lord God, hee shall
bee put to death (Deut. xiii. 6; xvii. |
.; Exod. xxi. 2O)."
"III. If any man shall blaspheme !
the name of God the Father, Some,
or Holy Ghost, with direct, express,
presumptuous, or high-handed BIAS |
phemy, or shall curse any one in |
the like manner, hee shall bee put to |
death LEV. xiv. Is, 49,"
"VIII. If any person eommitteth /
adultery with a married or espoused /
wife, the udulterer and the ddtIltereSs |
shall bee surely put to death LEV. Xxx. |
10; and xviii. 2O)."
"X. If any man stealeth a man or |
mankinde, hee shall bee put to death
(Exod. xxi. 49,"
XXI. If any man rise up by false |
witnesse, willingly and of purpose, to
take away any mans life, he shall bee |
put TO death (Deut. xix. 49,"
"XIII. If any childe or children
above siXteene yeares old, and of suf-
ficient understanding, shall curse or
smite his or their naturall father or
mother, hee or they shall bee put to
death, unless it can bee sufficiently
testified that the parents beene very
unchristianly negligent in the edu-
cation of such children, as 10 pro-
woke them by extreme and cruell cor
rection, that they have been forced
thereunto to preserve themselves
from death (or) manning (Exod. xxi.
17-25; Lew"
"XIV. If any man have a stub
born and rebellious some of suffi-
cient yeares and understanding-yiz.,
siXteene years of age-which will not
obey the voice of his father, or the
voice of his mother, and that, when
they have chastened him, will not
hearken unto them, then may his
father and mother, being his naturall
parents, lay hold on him, and bring
him to the magistrates assembled in
court, and testifie there that their
some is stubborn and rebellious, and
will not obey their voice and chas-
tisement, but lives in sundry notOri-
Gus crimes, such q some shall bee put
to death (Deut. XXX"
As regards penalties that were not
capital, for minor offences the Blue
Laws pressed very heavily on the right
of private Judgment. The Old Puri-
tains, though enemies of drunkenness
and excess, were by no means disin-
clined to allow either a rich man or
poor man a fair modicum of good
liquor, if his head were hard enough
and his stomach capacious enough to
bear it. 1t was ordered, for instance,
that no inn-keeper should allow any
of his guests or customers to drink
excessively; that is to say, above half
a pint of wine for one person at one
time; or, to continue tippling for
above half an hour together; or tip
pling at all, latter nine of the clock
in the evening"" The penalty for
drunkenness was ten shillings -alarge
sum in those days. Ifa person were
thrice fined for drunkenness, a whip
ping was to be substituted for the fine
ON all subsequent occasions, accompa-
MED by a public exhibition in the
stocks.
Lying, as distinguished from per-
Jury, was punished severely mall per-
sons above the age of fourteen years, )
if the lies they told were
Injurious to the public veal, or to the