Blue laws,
The name given to the first collection of laws framed for the government of the
Connecticut colony.
They were published, in collected form.
in 1650, and issued in blue-paper covers.
From this fact they derived the name of blue laws.
They contained rigid enactments against every social vice, as well as for social regulations, and revealed the sternness of the
Puritan character and morals.
Copies of these laws found their way to
England, where they first received the name of “blue laws.”
After the restoration of Charles H. the word
blue was applied to rigid moralists of every kind, especially to the Presbyterians.
Butler, in
Hudibras, says:
For his religion it was writ,
To match his learning and his wit,
'Twas Presbyterian true blue.
To ridicule the Puritans of
New England, a series of ridiculous enactments, falsely purporting to be a selection from the blue laws.
were promulgated, and gained general belief.
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