Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/683

 SUNDAY 655 ful work be abstained from, so that in them trading or legal pro- ceedings be not carried on, or any one condemned to death or punishment, or any oaths be administered, except for peace or other necessary reason." "Works of necessity (especially in the case of perishable materials or where time was important, as in fishing) were allowed, on condition that a due proportion of the gain made by work so done was given to the church and the poor. The con- sent of parties was insufficient to give jurisdiction to a court of law to proceed on Sunday, though it was sufficient in the case of a day sanctified by the ecclesiastical authority for a temporary purpose, e.g., a thanksgiving for vintage or harvest. In England legislation on the subject began early and contimies down to the most modern times. As early as the 7th century the laws of Ina, king of the West Saxons, provided that, if a " theowman " worked on Sunday by his lord's command, he was to be free and the lord to be fined 30s. ; if a freeman worked without his lord's command, the penalty was forfeiture of freedom or a fine of 60s., and twice as much in the case of a priest. The laws of ^Ethel- stan forbade marketing, of JSthelred folkmoots and hunting, on the Sunday. In almost all the pre-Conquest compilations there are admonitions to keep the day holy. The first allusion to Sunday in statute law proper is the Act of 28 Edw. III. c. 14 (now repealed), forbidding the sale of wool at the staple on Sunday. The mass of legislation from that date downwards may be divided, if not with strict accuracy, at least for purposes of convenience, into five classes, ecclesiastical, constitutional, judicial, social, and commercial. The following sketch of the legislation can scarcely presume to be exhaustive, but it will probably be found not to omit any statute of importance. It should be noticed that the terms "Sunday" and "Lord's day "are used in statutes. The term "Sabbath" occurs only in ordinances of the Long Parliament. " Sabbath - breaking" is sometimes used as a popular expression for a violation of the Acts for Sunday observance, but it is objected to by Black- stone as being legally incorrect. Good Friday and Christmas Day are as a rule in the same legal position as Sunday. In English law Sunday is reckoned from midnight to midnight, not as in canon law a vespcra ad vesperam. The Acts mentioned below are still law unless repeal of any of them is specially mentioned. Ecclesiastical. Before the Reformation there appears to be little or no statutory recognition of Sunday, except as a day on which trade was interdicted or national sports directed to be held. Thus the repealed Acts 12 Hie. II. c. 6 and 11 Hen. IV. c. 4 enjoined the practice of archery on Sunday. The church itself by provincial constitutions and other means declared the sanctity of the day, and was strong enough to visit with its own censures those who failed to observe Sunday. With the Reformation, however, it became necessary to enforce the observance of Sunday by the state in face of the question mooted at the time as to the divine or merely human institution of the day as a holy day. Sunday observance was directed by injunctions of both Edward VI. and Elizabeth, as well as by Acts of Parliament in their reigns. 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 1 (the second Act of Uniformity) enacted that all inhabitants of the realm were to endeavour themselves to resort to their parish church or chapel accustomed, or upon reasonable let thereof to some usual place where common prayer is used every Sunday, upon pain of punishment by the censures of the church. This is still law except as to Dissenters (see 9 and 10 Viet. c. 59). The same principle was re-enacted in the Act of Uniformity of Elizabeth (1 Eliz. c. 2), with the addition of a temporal punishment, viz., a fine of twelve pence for each offence. This section of the Act is, however, no longer law, and it appears that the only penalty now incurred by non-attendance at church is the shadowy one of ecclesiastical censure. 5 and 6 Edw. VI. c. 3 directed the keeping of all Sundays as holy days, with an exception in favour of husbandmen, labourers, fishermen, and other persons in harvest or other time of necessity. At the end of the reign of Elizabeth canon 13 of the canons of 1603 persons within the Church of England shall celebrate and keep the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, according to God's holy will and pleasure and the orders of the Church of England prescribed in that behalf, that is, in hearing the word of God read and taught, in private and public prayers, in acknowledging their offences to God and amendment of the same, in reconciling themselves charitably to their neighbours where displeasure hath been, in oftentimes receiving the communion of the body and blood of Christ, in visiting the poor and sick, using all godly and sober conversation." The Long Parliament, as might be expected, occupied itself with the Sunday question. An ordinance of 1644, c. 51, directed the Lord's day to be celebrated as holy, as being the Christian Sabbath. Ordinances of 1650, c. 9, and 1656, c. 15, contained various minute descriptions of crimes against the sanctity of the Lord's day, including travelling and "vainly and profanely walking." The Act of Uniformity of Charles II. (13 and 14 Car. II. c. 4) enforced the reading on every Lord's day of the morning and evening prayer according to the form in the Book of Common Prayer, a duty which had been pre viously enjoined by canon 14. By the first of the Church Building Acts (58 Geo. III. c. 45, s. 65) the bishop may direct a third service, morning or evening, where necessary, in any church built under the Act. By 1 and 2 Viet. c. 106, s. 80, he may order the performance of two full services, each if he so direct to include a sermon. The Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880, forbids any burial under the Act taking place on Sunday. Constitutional. Parliament has occasionally sat on Sunday in cases of great emergency, as on the demise of the crown. In one or two cases in recent years divisions in the House of Commons have taken place early on Sunday morning. The Ballot Act, 1872, enacts that in reckoning time for election proceedings Sundays are to be excluded. A similar provision is contained in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, as to proceedings under that Act. Judicial. As a general rule Sunday "for the purpose of judicial proceedings is a dies non. Legal process cannot be served or exe- cuted on Sunday, except in cases of treason, felony, or breach of the peace (29 Car. II. c. 7, s. 6). Proceedings which do not need the intervention of the court are good, e.g., service of a citation or notice to quit or claim to vote. By 11 and 12 Viet. c. 42, s. 4, a justice may issue a warrant of apprehension or a search warrant on Sunday. The Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, provide that the offices of the Supreme Court shall be closed on Sundays, that Sunday is not to be reckoned in the computation of any limited time less than six days allowed for doing any act or taking any proceeding, and that, where the time for doing any act or taking any proceeding expires on Sunday, such act or proceeding is good if done or taken on the next day. By the County Court Rules, 1886, the only county court process which can be executed on Sunday is a warrant of arrest in an Admiralty action. Social. Under this head may be grouped the enactments having for their object the regulation of Sunday travelling and amusements. The earliest example of non -ecclesiastical interference with recrea- tion appears to be the Book of Sports issued by James I. in 1618. Royal authority was given to all but recusants to exercise themselves after evening service in dancing, archery, leaping, vaulting, May- games, Whitsun-ales, morris-dances, and setting up of Maypoles; but bear and bull baiting, interludes, and bowling by the meaner sort were prohibited. In 1625 the first Act of the reign of Charles I. (1 Car. I. c. 1), following the lines of the Book of Sports, inhibited meetings, assemblies, or concourse of people out of their own parishes on the Lord's day for any sports and pastimes whatsoever, and any bear-baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, common plays, or other unlawful exercises and pastimes used by any person or persons within their own parishes, under a penalty of 3s. 4d. for every offence. The Act, it will be noticed, impliedly allows sports other than the excepted ones as long as only parishioners take part in them. An Act which has had more important consequences in recent years is 21 Geo. III. c. 49 (drawn by Dr Porteus, bishop of London). It enacts that any place opened or used for public entertainment and amusement or for public debate upon any part of the Lord's day called Sunday, to which persons are admitted by payment of money or by tickets sold for money, is to be deemed a disorderly house. The keeper is to forfeit 200 for every day on which it is opened or used as aforesaid on the Lord's day, the manager or master of the ceremonies 100, and every doorkeeper or servant 50. The advertising or publishing any advertisement of such an entertainment is made subject to a penalty of 50. It has been held that a meeting the object of which was not pecuniary gain (though there was a charge for admission), but an honest intention to introduce religious worship, though not according to any established or usual form, was not within the Act. On this principle forms of worship most directly opposed to the prevailing feeling of the country, such as Mormonism or Mohammedanism, are protected. In 1875 actions were brought in the Courts of Queen's Bench and Exchequer against the Brighton Aquarium Company, and penalties recovered under the Act. The penalties were remitted by the crown ; but, as doubts were felt as to the power of the crown to remit in such a case, 38 and 39 Viet. c. 80 was passed to remove such doubts and to enable the sovereign to remit in whole or in part penalties recovered for offences against the Act of Geo. III. The rules made by justices and the bye-laws made by local authorities for the government of theatres and ] of public entertainment usually provide for closing on Sunday. The Sunday opening of museums and art galleries is governed by local regulations ; there is no general law on the subject, though attempts have been made in that direction. The House of Lords recently passed a resolution in favour of the principle. A public billiard table must not be used on Sunday (8 and 9 Viet. c. 109). The Game Act (1 and 2 Will. IV. c. 32, s. 3) makes it punishable with a fine of 5 to kill game or use a dog or net for sporting purposes on Sunday. Provisions for the regulation of street traffic on Sundays during divine service in the metropolis and provincial towns may be made by the local authorities under the powers of the Metropolis Management Acts, the Town Police Clauses Act, and the Public Health Act. Hackney carriages may ply for hire in London (1 and 2 Will. IV. c. 22). Where a railway company