The Blue LawsConnecticut's so-called Blue Laws have been famous (infamous) for years. Now you can read them for yourself! In the forty sixth year after Independence" Silas Andrus published his painstakingly researched and compiled collection of the earliest laws of Connecticut. It was the first time these laws had been printed. These ancient laws make fascinating reading today. There are strictures against "tipling above the space of half an houre ... or after nine o'clock at night, " against spending one's time "idley or unprofitably, " and a stern remonstrance forbidding kindling fires in the Common woods. Some of these early laws have a contemporary parallel. There were, for instance, laws forbidding the use of tobacco by those under 21 and in public places. The Blue Laws will appeal to historians, lawyers, and anyone interested in the very colorful rulings of the early colonists. The book includes, according to Andrus himself, "The Code of 1650, being a compilation; the earliest laws and orders of the General Court of Connecticut and the Constitution, or Civil Compact, entered into and adopted by the towns of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield in 1638-9, to which is added some extracts from the laws and judicial proceedings of New Haven Colony commonly called Blue Laws." |
