Capitall Lawes of Connecticut

  • December 1, 1642
Image: Andros a Prisoner in Boston. F.O.C. Darley, William L. Shepard or Granville Perkins. (1876) Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AndrosaPrisonerInBoston.png

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    1. Yf any man after legall conviction, shall have or worship any other God but the Lord God, he shall be put to death. Deu 13; 6, and 17. 2 Ex. 22; 20.
    2. Yf any man or woman be a Witch, (that is) hath consulteth w’th a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death. Ex. 22; 18. Lev. 20; 27. Deu 18; 10,11.
    3. If any p’son shall blaspheme the name of God the ffather, Son or Holy Goste w’th direct, expres pr’sumptuous or highlanded blasphemy, or shall curse God in the like manner, he shall be put to death. Lev. 24; 15, 16.
    4. Yf any p’son shall comitt any willfull murther, w’ch is manslaughter comitted vpon mallice, hatred or cruelty, not in a mans necessary and just defence, nor by mere casualty against his will, he shall be put to death. Ex. 21; 12, 13, 14. Num. 35; 30, 31.
    5. Yf any person shall slay another through guile, ether by poysonings or other such Devlish (devilish) practices, he shall be put to death. Ex. 21; 14.
    6. Yf any man or woman shall ly w’th any Beast or brut creature by carnall copulation, they shall surely be put to death, and the Beast shall be slayne and buried. Lev. 20; 15, 16.
    7. Yf any man lye w’th mankind as he lyeth w’th a woman, both of them have comitted abomination, they both shall surely be put to Death. Lev. 20; 13.
    8. Yf any p’son comiteth Adultery w’th a married or espoused wife, the Adulterer and the Adulteres shall surely be put to Death. Lev. 20; 10 and 18, 20. Deu. 22; 23, 24.
    9. Yf any man shall forcibly and w’thout consent rauishe any mayd or Woman that is lawfull married or contracted, he shall be put to Death. Deu. 22; 25.
    10. Yf any man stealeth a man or mankind, he shall be put to Death. Ex. 21; 16.
    11. Yf any man rise vp by false witness, wittingly and of purpose to take away any man’s life, he shall be put to Death. Deu 19; 16, 18, 19.
    12. Yf any man shall conspire or attempte any Inuasion, Insurrection or Rebellion against the commonwelth, he shall be put to Deth.
    13. Yf any childe or children aboue sixteene yeers old, and of sufficient understanding, shall curse or smite their natural father or mother, hee or they shall bee put to Death; unlesse it can bee sufficiently testified that the parents have been very vnchristianly negligent in the education of such children, or so provoake them by extreme and cruel correction that they have benne foreced thereunto to preserve themselues from Death or maiming. Ex. 21; 17. Lev. 20. Ex. 20; 15.
    14. Yf any man have a stubborne and rebellious sonne, of sufficient yeares and vunderstanding, viz, sixteene yeares of age, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they haue chastened him, will not hearken vnto them; then may his father and mother, being his naturall parents, lay hold on him and bring him to the Magestrates assembled in courte, and testify vnto them, that theire sonne is stubborne and rebellious, and will not obey their voyce and chastisement, but lives in sundry notorious crimes, such a sonne shall bee put to Death. Deu. 21;20, 21.
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