Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 December 1877 — Law a Hundred Years Ago. [ARTICLE]

Law a Hundred Years Ago.

The Albany Law Journal finds in Hall’s History of Eastern Vermont some account of the laws which were in force.a hundred years ago: “Burglary was punished by branding with a B in the forehead, ami nailing one of the offender’s ears to a post nfirtWKfflg the second offense there was the like branding, and nailing and cutting oft’ of the other ear; for the third offense the punishment was death, the offender being deemed * incorrigible.’ Counterfeiting was punished by cutting off the right ear, branding with C, and perpetual imprisonment. Perjury was punished by a fine of £SO and imprisonment for six months, but if the offender could not pay the fine he was let off by sitting in the pillory two hours, and having both ears nailed and cut off. Wilful lying, to public prejudice or private injury, or deceiving or abusing the people with false news or reports, was punished by fine, sitting in thestocks and whipping, the punishment being increased with each repetition of the' offense, except that in no case was the number of stripes to exceeibthe number of thirtynine. Theft was punished by compelling threefold restitution, by fine and by a sort of temporary, slavery, the prosecutor being empovVeriiiLto. dis. pose of the offender in service- -to any subject of the State for such time as jje should be assigned to the prosecutor by the Court. * Unseasonable night walking,' that is to say, after nine o’clock, wwprohibited, as was also the convening of persons under the government of parents, guardians or masters after that untimely hour. ‘Tavern haunters’ were punished By posting their names at the door of every tavern, and prohibiting the tavern-keeper from supplying them with anything in the way of strong drink. No clamorous discourse, snouting, hallooing, screaming, running, riding, dancing, jumping, swimming or blowing of horns, was tolerated on the Lora’s Day. Listening outside of the meetipg-house during the time of public worship was not permitted. Secular meetings of any number of persons, in the street or elsewhere, on Saturday or Monday evening, were forbidden, tinder penalty qf fine or stocks. “Mr.- Hall gives several notable instances of popular legal errors prevailfngifi Vermont. One notion was that if the friends of one dying in prison

carried his remains beyond the boundaries of the Jail yard, they were accomplices in an ‘escape,’ and liable to satisfy the judgment by virtue of which he had been confined. Another notion was that if one should bury the body of an imprisoned debtor, he thereby ‘ became administrator in his own wrong, and liable to discharge the debtor’s obligations. In the case of Judge Chandler, who died while confined in Jail for debt, his interment became a serious problem. In this predieament the Jailer discovered that by stretching the chain he could include within the Jail liberties a small.portion of the adjoining burying-ground. A grave was dug, commencing just outside the graveyard fence, and just within the Jail-yard, sloping under the tehee, until a sufficient depth and obliquity was obtained. So Judge Chandler was buried after a Christian fashion, and yet no ‘ escape’ was suffered.”