p. 21 | Maryland Blue Law by W. A. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 23, 1908

Maryland Blue Law

By W. A. C.

Charge of Working on Sunday Under Statute of 1723

Under the above caption and subhead, the following appeared in the Washington, D. C., Evening Star, of July 30, 1907:—

“Charged with working Sunday, Charles Robinson, a driver for J. H. Houser, the District contractor, will be arraigned in the police court to-morrow morning. His attorney says he will ask for a jury trial.

“Robinson is charged in an information filed to-day, under an act of the Maryland legislature, passed in 1723, known as the blue laws, which forbids working Sunday. The information sets forth that Charles Robinson, on the 21st day of July, 1907, in the District of Columbia aforesaid, and in the city of Washington, did then and there work on said day, the said day being Sunday, contrary to, and in violation of, an act of the Maryland legislature approved 1723, Chapter 16, Section 10, and constituting a law of the District of Columbia.” Attorney E. S. Duvall, Jr., appears for the defendant.

“Should the law be upheld, it is declared all work must be stopped in the District of Columbia on Sunday, or else each person must pay two hundred pounds of tobacco for each time he is caught working.

“LAW IS VERY STRICT

“The law is very strict against Sunday labor. It is as follows:—

“‘No person whatsoever shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday, and that no person having children, servants, or slaves shall command, or wittingly or willingly suffer any of them to do any manner of work or labor on the Lord’s day (works of necessity and charity always excepted); nor shall suffer or permit any children, servants, or slaves to profane the Lord’s day by gaming, fishing, fowling, hunting, or unlawful pastimes or recreations; and that every person transgressing this act, and being thereof convicted by the oath of one sufficient witness, or confession of the party before a single magistrate shall forfeit 200 pounds of tobacco to be levied and applied as aforesaid.’

“In the case in question the government expects to prove that Robinson was employed as a dirt-wagon driver, and that he worked in that capacity Sunday, in hauling dirt for Mr. Houser on Massachusetts Avenue. The case was taken up because of complaint made by Gen. John M. Wilson, who protested to the District Commissioners against the hauling of dirt along Massachusetts Avenue Sunday. The complaint was referred to Corporation Counsel Thomas for an opinion as to whether prosecution could be brought, and that official, after delving into the books on his shelves, suggested the old Maryland blue law.

“The police then investigated, and after Policeman T. D. Walsh of the third precinct had obtained the proof necessary under the law, he presented the case to Prosecuting Attorney James L. Pugh, at the police court. The information was filed to-day, and next October, when the case is set for a jury trial, Judge Kimball will be called upon to decide whether the law is now valid in the District of Columbia.”

We shall watch the development and await with interest the decision of this case. By an act of Congress, passed, we believe, over one hundred years ago, all the laws of the State of Maryland then in force were adopted as the laws of the District of Columbia. By this means, it seems, this antiquated Sunday law of Maryland was made a law of the District of Columbia. Along with this, another law, a law against blasphemy, was also adopted, though, like the Sunday law, it has remained a dead letter. This law reads as follows:—

“‘That if any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly, maliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme, or curse God, or deny our Saviour Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, or shall deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead of any of the three Persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the Persons thereof, and shall be thereof convict by verdict, or confession, shall, for the first offense, be bored through the tongue and fined twenty pounds sterling; . . . and that for the second offense, the offender being thereof convict as aforesaid, shall be stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B and fined forty pounds sterling; . . . and that for the third offense, the offender being convict as aforesaid, shall suffer death without the benefit of the clergy.’”

Such laws, standing, as they do, on the statute books of that territory which, above all other, is owned and under the direct control of the government of the United States,—the District of Columbia,—and which is situated at the very heart of the nation, give a rather dark picture to this land of far-famed liberty, and lend significance to the prophecy of Rev. 13: 11-18. That such laws exist and are actually in force at the very capital of this nation, will doubtless be a surprise to many. And that they are being searched out and put into operation here in an effort to enforce Sunday observance, is truly significant as to the time in which we are living, and of intense interest to us. We shall doubtless have more to say upon this subject in the future.

W. A. C.