Posted on 12/04/2005 6:46:56 AM PST by cloud8
Largely ignored, Puritan laws like 'Common Day of Rest' revisited for the holidays...
When Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly warned retailers that they would face prosecution if their doors opened on Thanksgiving, he was citing a nearly 400-year-old-law, penned by Puritans trying to enforce their idea of order on the dark shores of the New World.
And as the year-end holiday approaches, authorities are watching for any supermarkets or department stores that try to do business on Christmas Day, citing the same timeworn legislation.
This legal relic is part of legislation known as the blue laws: rarely enforced and largely ignored, they have never officially been removed from the books. And they occasionally pop up, as the Common Day of Rest Law did when Reilly enforced the rules in response to an organic food chain's announcement of plans to stay open Thanksgiving. Today, the Day of Rest Law applies only to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But whenever the blue laws come up, so does the key question: why can't the Legislature shed or refine them?
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Laws against fornication, blasphemy, and adultery are still on the books, but they aren't enforced either.
How could they enforce the laws. Kennedys would be in jail no running the state.
You can say that again.
> You can say that again.
I will. Anyone who has worked retail knows there is a need for a Common Day of Rest.
Of course,having been overrun with out of state "progressives" over the last 30+ years,it would be oppressive to expect that anyone here should not have access to a new TV set or a new pair of sneakers for a single second of a single day.
But then,atheists like Kennedy,Kerry and Frank wouldn't have it any other way.
AS I recall, it was late in the 17th century beofre celebrating the Incarnation was permissible
I've always been struck by the eery parallel between political correctness and Puritanism. The fact that it is Massachusetts where people are being told what they can do on which days, and which refuses to rid itself of laws which intrude into the most personal aspects of our lives, is probably not a coincidence.
Yeah, the mad scramble to buy everything on Saturday so the Sunday chores could be accomplished. The effect was to increase the amount of Sunday cuss words when it was realized that the critical item was overlooked and could not be purchased without making the border run to New Hampshire.
> I've always been struck by the eery parallel between political correctness and Puritanism.
They both require a high degree of conformity, but at least the Puritans carried out their lives in the conviction that they were serving God. And maybe they did, except for the unpleasentness up in Salem. My own relatively puritanical upbringing taught me a sense of right and wrong, and the Massachusetts I live in now could use a healthy dose of it.
> When the Blue Laws were repealed here in the mid-80's, commerce may have improved, but something special was lost.
Here in Massachusetts, we couldn't buy beer on Sunday until last year. You still can't buy it in a supermarket on any day of the week. Gotta go to the Packy :) (Package Store)
Someone once told me the Change is Good. I didn't believe it for a minute. Tradition is best, and even if it's the quirky Blue Laws, it's a reminder of our heritage.
So your point is that since a majority of citizens voted for blue laws, we should keep 'em? Sounds like the tyranny of democracy to me. In a free country, the day one takes off, or gives off, should be up to the individual, not the state, not the next door neighbor, not the community, not the vestry.
Because the legislature is still controled by members who disregard their oath of office; -- to support the US Constitution as the supreme law.
Our law of the land does not allow States to deprive the people of life, liberty or property without due process of constitutional law.
'Blue laws' deprive us of the liberty to do as we please on holidays. .
I believe our esteemed legislators swear to uphold the laws and constitution of the Commonwealth:
"I, A. B., do solemnly swear and affirm, that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me as : according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably, to the rules and regulations of the constitution, and the laws of this commonwealth -- So help me, God." http://www.mass.gov/legis/const.htm
> 'Blue laws' deprive us of the liberty to do as we please on holidays. .
They do indeed. But be that as it may, do you support the invalidation by the SCOTUS of the Texas sodomy (i.e., Blue) laws? All such laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol, work on Sunday, sexual relations, etc., were enacted to preserve and maintain public morality.
Because the legislature is still controlled by members who disregard their [primary] oath of office; -- to support the US Constitution as the supreme law.
I believe our esteemed legislators swear to uphold the laws and constitution of the Commonwealth --
Check out Article VI. All state legislators "-- shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution, --".
Our law of the land does not allow States to deprive the people of life, liberty or property without due process of constitutional law.
'Blue laws' deprive us of the liberty to do as we please on holidays. .
They do indeed. But be that as it may, do you support the invalidation by the SCOTUS of the Texas sodomy (i.e., Blue) laws?
Same principle applies. We can do as we please in the privacy of our homes, as long as no one is harmed.
All such laws regarding the sale and consumption of alcohol, work on Sunday, sexual relations, etc., were enacted to preserve and maintain public morality.
"Public morality" can be regulated with reasonable state laws, laws that do not infringe or deprive people of life, liberty or property without due process of constitutional law. [see the 14th]
The key principle is 'reasonable'.
We have a Constitutional system that protects individual liberty, not one that allows States to infringe upon them.
We have a Constitutional system that protects individual liberty, not one that allows States to infringe upon them.
Barnett explains:
The Presumption of Liberty
Sample Chapter for Barnett, R.E.: Restoring the Lost Constitution
Address:http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/chapters/i7648.html
Why don't we let business owners decide
My point is that blue laws are both constitutional and still supported by a majority in some places, regardless of what the Boston Globe would have you believe.
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