The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-12-31
The New England Lsws of a Former
Day.

resume of what, in slang phrase, was
known as the Blue Laws Of Connecticut.
It was a nickname, suggested by the
old English phrase ''blue-devils," and
the vulgarism to '1ook blue" under
calamity and sorrow. The popularity
of these enactments was that they inter
fered with the privileges of conscience,
which, with enlightened, high-minded
people, are like the ark of the coven-
ant, too sacred to be touched; and
pressed severely upon private Judgment.
The intermeddling spirit which these
laws produced, though they have long
since been consigned to ''the tomb of
the Capulets, and their authors
fare dust
And their souls with the saints we trust
has survived, and its outcroppings are
seen in the propensity Of the New Eng
land communities, to regulate the con
Germs Of their neighbors of other States
\ criminal offence Of any kind cannot
be reported, for example, from Missis-
sippi, Alabama or any other State,
particularly if it is Southern, without
the men, women and children of the
country where Blue Lavish has been
bred in the bone, undertaking to sit in
judgment upon it and to prescribe the
punishment that ought to be inflicted.
But the essence Of these laws, was intol-
erance and it Is to this spirit, coupled
with ntermeddling that has produced
the sectional troubles that have disturb
ed the peace Of the Union since its foun-
dation. Believing especially in the Old
Testament, they ignored and despised
the mercy and charity exhibited by the
Saviour as taught in the New Here
are some examples Of these laws
Il If any man, after legal conviction
shall have or worship any other god but
the Lord God, hee shall bee PIT to death
(Deut. xiii 6 xvii. = Exod. xxi 20)."
iii. If any man shall blaspheme the
name of God the Father, Some, or Holy
Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous,
or high-handed biasphemy, or shall curse
any one in the like manner, nee shall bee PIT
to dcafh (Ley. xiv. -, 49,"
"X Ifany man stealeth man or man
kinde, hec shall bee put to death (Exod. xxi.
49,"
XXI. If any man rise up by false wit
nesse, willingly and of purpose, to take
away any mans life, hee shall bee PIT to death
Deut xix. 49,"
"XIII. If any childe or children above
sixteeue yeares old, and of sufficient under
standing, shall curse or smite his or their
NATURAL father mother hee or they shall
bee PIT to deafh, unless it can bee sufficient
ly testified that the parents have beene
very unchristianIy negligent in the educa-
ton Of such children, as to provoke them by
extreme and cruel correction, that they
have been forced thereunto to preserve
themselves from death (or) manning (Exod.
xxi. 17-25; Levy
XIV. If any man have Il stubborn and
rcbelIiouS some of sufficient yeares and UNI
Ierstanding- sixteene yeares 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 NATURAL parents, lay hold on him,
and bring him to the magistrates assembled
IN courte, and testife there that their some
As stubborn and rebeIious, and will not
obey their voice and chastisement, but
lives in sundry notorious crimes, such a
some shall bee PIT to death (Deut. XXX"
For minor offences such penalties as
the following were prescribed:
1t was ordered that no person under the
age IF twenty-one years, any other
(howeYer Old) who had not already aceus-
toned himself TO the use of tobacco, should
be permitted 10 smoke or snuff or chew,
unless he brought certificate from ply
stefan that it was useful for his health.
ANY one who smoked either in his own
house or publicly on the streets, was to be
fined sixpence for each offence on the testi-
rnony of single witness. 1t was ordered
also that "such fines should be paid without
gainsaying.''
This law remained in operation. so far as
1t applied to smoking in the public streets,
until within living memory. in the city of
Boston and elsewhere the fine for disobedi-
euce having been raised from sixpence to a
dollar
SANDER was punished by fine, whipping,
and Imprisonment. Unehastity in man or
woman was punished by lcAipping through
sJcreR folrps After a time, when it was
found that the peHSlty offended the con-
science of the people as being too severe, it
was reduced to whipping, through three
towns only.
Burglary and highway robbery were
treated in peculiar manner. Any person
who committed these crimes was for the
first offence to be branded on the forehead
with the letter b. For the second offence
he was to have a second letter imprinted
indeliby on his front, and to be severely
whipped. If he fell into the offence a third
time, he was to be put to death, incor-
rigible- If the first offence were committed
on the Lords day, the offender, in addi-
ton to the branding was to have one of his
ears cut off. If the second offence were in
like manner committed on the Sabbath,
the remaining ear was to be cut off.
Contempt of court is an offence in all civ
ilized countries, but it was left to the Puri-
tans to make contempt of preacher, or of
his sermon, q crime to be severely dealt
with. 1t was ordered in the Blue Laws
that if any one within the jurisdiction of
Connecticut should bear himself CON,
temptuously towards the word preached"
Or towards ''the messengers (ministers) that
are called to dispense the same, he should
for the first offence be publicly and severely
reprimanded by the magistrates, and bound
over for his good behaviour; and for the
second or any subseo uent offence he shOuld