"blue laws"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, Carolyn S Lieberg wrote:

> The term "blue laws" seems to have been invented by Reverend Samuel
> Peters, a pro-British American clergyman whose "General History of
> Connecticut," published in 1781, set out to paint the colonists as
> religious fanatics. Although popular legend maintains that the term
> "blue laws" arose because the laws themselves were printed on blue
> paper, Peters himself explained that by "blue" he meant "bloody,"
> i.e., enforced by whipping, maiming and death.

As has been pointed out before on this list by Michael Quinion, Noah
Welles used "blue laws" in a 1762 pamphlet.

Fred Shapiro


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