SUNDAY LEGISLATION. 



749 



thirty cloys from that number in order that 

 business might not be impeded and crime 

 might not go unpunished. The ferial system 

 also included the forbidding of various kinds 

 of labor on the days consecrated by religious 

 observances. This system and these practices 

 antedate Christianity. 



Constantine, like his predecessors, was a 

 devotee of the sun god, and he favored all in- 

 fluences and used all measures to establish 

 himself as supreme ruler. While he was thus 

 struggling for the supremacy. Sunday legisla- 

 tion first appeared (321 A. r>.). The pagan char- 

 acter of this first legislation is shown by the 

 law and its associations. There is nothing in 

 contemporaneous history to indicate that such 

 legislation was desired or sought by the people 

 of the empire or by any class thereof. On the 

 contrary, everything shows that these edicts 

 sprung from the will of the Emperor alone. 

 In 386 A. D. legislation was renewed, forbid- 

 ding shows and litigation on Sunday, and then, 

 for the first time, the term "Lord's Day." was 

 used as the counterpart of Sunday. 



In the middle ages almost all questions of 

 religious duty and of ecclesiastical organization 

 were subject to civil control. The ecc! 

 tico-civil authority claimed the prerogative of 

 legislating on religious questions, after the 

 manner of the Jewish theocracy. Hence there 

 are several points of analogy between the Sun- 

 day legislation of the middle ages and the Sab- 

 bath legislation of the Mosaic period. Legisla- 

 tion fixed sacred time from noon on Saturday 

 until sunrise on Monday ; and during the lat- 

 ter part of the middle-age period those who 

 dared to disobey such requirements were co- 

 erced by additional commands, which, it was 

 claimed, were furnished by direct interposi- 

 tion of Heaven. 



The Saxon legislation was much like the 

 middle-age legislation of Southern Europe. It 

 began as early as 688 A. D. under Ina, King of 

 Wessex. It divided the punishment for work- 

 ing on Sunday between the slave, the master 

 who required work of him. and the freeman 

 who worked from his own choice. The sacred 

 time sometimes began with sunset on Saturday 

 and ended with sunset on Sunday, known as 

 " Monday eve." In some instances, as under 

 Edgar. 959-975 A. D., it extended from noon 

 on Saturday until daylight on Monday. 



The English Sunday laws were a continua- 

 tion and expansion of the Saxon laws, and, 

 like these, were the product of the original 

 Roman legislation. In 1281, under Edward I, 

 an attempt was made to eliminate the Jewish 

 theocratic idea. The showing of wool in the 

 market was forbidden under Edward III in 

 1354. Islip. Archbishop of Canterbury, in 

 1359 enlarged the prohibitions and require- 

 ments with reference to Sunday and other 

 church-appointed days. Marketing, and fairs 

 for the sale of goods, which seem to have been 

 held in and about church-buildings and ceme- 

 teries, were forbidden on Sunday and other 



festivals, under Thorsby, Archbishop of Y<>rk, 

 in 1357 A. D.; while "unlawful games on Sun- 

 days and other festivals " were prohibited under 

 Henry IV in 1409 A. D. Fairs and markets, 

 which evidently increased rather than dimin- 

 ished, were especially inveighed against under 

 Henry VI in 1448. The sale of g<><:d> by 

 " cobblers and cordwainers in the city of Lon- 

 don," excepting in certain localities, was for- 

 bidden "on Sunday and other festivals." in 

 14i*>4. In 1547. under Edward VI, more strin- 

 gent regulations concerning religious worship 

 on Sunday were introduced. In 1552 he is- 

 sued " an act for the keeping holy days and 

 fast days," which included a large number of 

 days and made many strict prohibitions. The 

 ''Injunctions of Elizabeth" created a stricter 

 legislation, and made special provision for the 

 appointment of "discreet men to see that all 

 the parishioners duly resort to their churches 

 upon Sundays and all holy days." and to punish 

 neglect thereof. The spread of the Puritanic 

 element in England, which urged this stricter 

 legislation, was opposed by the u Book of 

 Sports," first published by James I in 1618, 

 and republished by Charles I in 1633. This 

 declaration set aside much of the stricter legis- 

 lation that preceded it. and favored the ruder 

 and irreligious habits of the m: - 



The Sunday legislation in England that was 

 peculiarly Puritanic, dates from 1640 to 1660. 

 The Sunday laws passed during the Puritan 

 supremacy, were at once civil enactments and 

 theological treatises. In strictness of require- 

 ment, extent of application, special features, 

 regulations, and provisions, these laws are in 

 strong contrast with nearly all that preceded 

 them. They form a curious and interesting 

 epoch in the history of Sunday legislation. 

 They are prefaced by the complaint that Sun- 

 day was little regarded as a sacred day. and 

 was wickedly desecrated by business and rec- 

 reation. They forbade all secular business, 

 traveling, and recreation, in careful detail. 

 They specified minutely in all particulars, and 

 instituted a rigid system of police supervision 

 and of punishment. The dates of the long and 

 prominent laws under Cromwell are 1044. 

 1650. and 1656. In connection with these 

 laws, and in the more stringent laws enacted 

 before and after the Cromwellian supremacy, 

 excise regulations concerning drinking-shops 

 were prominent. 



Sunday legislation in Scotland appeared un- 

 der James I in 1424 : the main feature of the 

 first law being a requirement that all men 

 practice themselves in archery in connection 

 with their attendance upon parish churches on 

 "holy days," under penalty of fine. This was 

 in the interest of military service. In 1469, 

 under James III, special legislation forbade 

 moving, collecting of rents, etc., on holy days. 

 Next came the forbidding of fairs and markets, 

 in 1503. From this time Sunday legislation 

 increased in strictness, being in its general 

 characteristics like that of England, and allied 



