GLEANINGS FROM EARLY MASSACHUSETTS LAWS.
By Austin A. Martin.
TO the student of history the statute-book of any particular period furnishes much valuable information as to the general habits and modes of life of a people. The main features of the laws of all Anglo-Saxon communities are substantially the same, varying in details according to the different conditions in which each finds itself. There everywhere exist the same needs of good government, administration of justice, regulation of trade, descent of property, encouragement of morality, and suppression and punishment of evil-doers.
The differences which appear in the statutes depend upon varying social and local conditions, and the more or less severe moral sense of the people. Beyond the laws which are essential and common to all communities, it is safe to say that every statute has been enacted to meet some real or supposed local need, and it is from these that the student can glean many curious and significant facts. For example, a statute fixing a bounty for the killing of wolves would hardly be found in any country where the wolf was not a somewhat near neighbor. Laws regulating dealings with Indians, or those relating to the discipline of negro slaves, are the natural concomitants of the existence of those people in the community. The punishments enacted for the suppression of crimes and minor offences strongly reflect the existing moral sense at the time.
Without further preface, and without going back to the earliest days of the Colony, an old folio volume in my library, the "Laws of the Province of Massachusetts Bay," from 1692 (4 William and Mary) to 1766 (6 George III.), edition of 1759 with supplements, contains some enactments which may well surprise and amuse the descendants of their framers.
In the first place, the laws affecting criminals have none of the sentimental euphemism which characterizes some later statutes. A spade is called a spade with unmistakable clearness of diction, and the punishments are prescribed with a vigorous emphasis. The gallows, pillory, stocks, and the lash, branding, cutting off and nailing of ears, are the means by which, in addition to or in lieu of fines, the blind goddess enforced her decrees. It is true that Section 43 of the "Body of Liberties" prescribes that no man shall be beaten with above forty stripes, nor shall any true gentleman, nor any man equal to a gentleman, be punished with whipping, unless his crime be very shameful, and his course of life vicious and profligate. Section 45 of the "Body of Liberties" also provides that no man shall be forced by torture to confess any crime against himself, nor against any other, except in certain cases therein laid down; in which event he may be tortured, "yet not with such tortures as be barbarous and inhumane." Unfortunately we know that on Sept. 19, 1692, Giles Corey was pressed to death at Salem, for refusing to plead, when arraigned for witchcraft. In 1692 the laws against witchcraft were still in force; namely, "If any man or woman be a witch, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death." On Sept. 22, 1692, at Salem, occurred the last execution for this crime in the Province, when several persons were put to death, all protesting their innocence. In January, 1693, the Grand Jury brought bills against some fifty persons for witchcraft; but all were acquitted except three, and these were reprieved. It is thus evident that a reaction in public feeling had set in, and in 1697 the General Court appointed January 14 as a day of fasting and prayer on account of "the late tragedy raised among us by
