Posted by:
dalebroadhurst
(
)
Date: January 12, 2014 11:44PM
Alpiner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Clayton Cramer posted a bunch of fascinating blue
> laws from colonial America on his blog while
> working on another project. Among them, one had to
> obtain permission to be a bachelor and rent an
> apartment. In Vermont, one had to wear a scarlet
> letter I if convicted of adultery.
>
> Some of it's pretty fascinating.
>
http://claytonecramer.blogspot.com/search/label/hi> story
As recently as mid-19th century, some civil courts would
not admit the testimony of an atheist, Deist, Quaker, etc.
in a trail. Theoretically such a witness could be brought
to the stand, directed to first swear on a Bible, and
then be arrested for contempt of court when they refused.
Or -- if they complied, they could be arrested for blasphemy
or some other crime involving swearing under false pretenses.
Sounds like a good plot for a Franz Kafka novel.
UD