MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY
This established the right of trial by jury in America. The spelling is the original from 1641
This absurd law was in existence for 22 years. But its vestiges lasted for over 100 years. It was not until the 1880s that it became fashionable to celebrate Christmas in Boston. The founding fathers were well aware of many early American laws interfering with religion and many religious laws interfering with those who did not believe a particular doctrine. The separation of church and state evolved from years of European abuses and American abuses as well.
This early New England law illustrates some interesting aspects of Colonial law enforcement and philosophy. Massachusetts was perhaps the most religiously rigid and orthodox of the colonies. Yet in the case of rape, they did not always follow the Mosaic Law as some other colonies did. Instead, they had the concept of judicial discretion built into their sentencing. The other point of interest is that there was an “age of consent” albeit, for a female it was 10 years old.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The lands of the settlement were in southern New England, with initial settlements on two natural harbors and surrounding land about 15.4 miles (24.8 km) apart—the areas around Salem and Boston, north of the previously established Plymouth Colony. The territory nominally administered by the Massachusetts Bay Colony covered much of central New England, including portions of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.
