Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1954-01-21

gardening on Saturday, or aIter
work, and put off buying plants,
seeds, etc. until another day. The
nurseryman has no exemption I'M
der the present statutes, and so
shouldn't sell-deal in, or give
away-any of his stock on Sunday.
Delieatessens and stands along
the road selling, other than actual
ly allowed items, also vioate the
letter of the law.
Actually the State agency which
controls Tridalphia Lake--or the
State agency which has to do with
fishing, permits law violations by
allowing not only grownups, but
also children to fish on Sunday.
Religious Groups
There are undoubtedly hundreds
more of Sunday "Blue Laws" vio-
lations but these serve to point
up what enforcement of the let
ter of the law can mean. OF
course, the State, and the County
could probably increase their cof-
fers greatly if all violators were
convicted. However, taxes seem
the more logical way for political
subdivisions to obtain money.
There is another side of this
question which is not so light as
the above examples are. There are,
for example, at least two religions
whose Sabbaths do not fall on
Sunday. They are, of course, the
Jewish and the Seventh-day Ad-
ventist faiths. The formers Sab
bath is from shutdown on Friday
evening to shutdown on Saturday
evening. The Adventists hold Sat
urday as their Sabbath. In either
case, a business man of either
faith, holding true to his religion.
must close his ubsihess two days
in the week his own Sabbath
and Sunday, the day decreed by
the law of Maryland to be prac-
tically day of non-activity. How
ever, it is not the purpose of this
article to go into the many pro
blems this aspect of the Sunday
laws presents.
There is quite some justification
for complaints which come to the
States Attorneys office. A parti.
cularly blatant example of Ito say
the least) poor taste, was the re.
cent case of an appliance store
in the county which had an out
door loudspeaker blaring away
while services were being conduct
ed in a nearby church. This sor
of thing is rare, however, and i!
not the normal way in which
stores doing business on Sunday
carry on their businesses.
The History
A brief history of Sunday law!
might make interesting reading
The first known law was ISSUED
by Constantine in the year 80.
AID. This law stated that judges
craftsmen, and city people SHOULD
rest on the 'Day of the Sum-, bu
did allow country folk to work il
the fields. 1t is interesting to not,
that Saturday, not Sunday, wa!
observed by all as the Sabbath
until about the end of the 9th cen
fury, at which time the emperor
Leo substituted Sunday for Satur
day as day of rest.
Charlemagne, Ina (Anglo-Sax
on), Henry III of England, James
/, and Charles II also restricted
Sunday activities to some extent
In 1906 in England, if you did no
go to church, you were fined ONT
shilling-but a later law also al
lowed you to participate in Ger
tain sports after church.
The law of Charles II seems t,
be the basis for Colonial Sunda!
laws in this country-and, as witt
the present Maryland law, forbad
"wordly labour, business or worl
f. upon the Lords (sic) day O
any part thereof (works of neces
sity and charity only excepted).
The Maryland law of 1923 state,
that you should not suffer you
slaves to work las well as your
self, your children, etc.,, and tn
fine in those days were payable il
tobacco.
So, you see, whether for re
ligious or civil purposes, the Sun
day laws are not, by any means
new.
Can They Do It?
The great question now is: Will
the Sunday laws as they stan'
with respect to Montgomery Coun
ty, be truly enforced? Or will the.
be enforced only against places O
business, who by virtue of being
open, arouse the ire of citizen
who may well be breaking the let
ter of the Sunday law themselves
Will hardware stores be closed, bu
drug stores allowed to sell an!
items they have in stock? Are thu
police (this spring and summer,
going to closely patrol the tennis
courts and golf courses to make
sure. that no one is playing be-
fore 2 pm. and are there
enough on the force to make sure
that no one in the County is break
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