Stubborn Children Law
The General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony enacted a law in November 1646 providing, among other things,[1] for the capital punishment of male children that were disobedient to their parents.[2]
The Massachusetts law stated:[3][4]
If a man have a stubborn or rebellious son, of sufficient years and understanding sixteen years of age, which will not obey the voice of his Father, or the voice of his Mother, and that when they have chastened him will not harken unto them: then shall his Father and Mother being his natural parents, lay hold on him, and bring him to the Magistrates assembled in Court and testify unto them, that their son is stubborn and rebellious and will not obey their voice and chastisement, but lives in sundry notorious crimes, such a son shall be put to death.
References[edit]
- ^ "Illegal to Deny the Bible".
- ^ Sutton, John R. (1981). "Stubborn Children: Law and the Socialization of Deviance in the Puritan Colonies". Family Law Quarterly. 15 (1): 31–64. ISSN 0014-729X. JSTOR 25739276.
- ^ Farrand, Max (1929). The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts. Harvard University Press. OCLC 67569657. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022 – via Liberty Fund.
- ^ Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England 1628-1686 101 (1854).