Massachusetts Body of Liberties, Illuminated Legal Code, Essential, Interconnected.
“Liberty, next to religion has been the motive of good deeds and the common pretext of crime, from the sowing of the seed at Athens, 2,460 years ago, until the ripened harvest was gathered by men of our race. It is the delicate fruit of a mature civilization; and scarcely a century has passed since nations, that knew the meaning of the term, resolved to be free. In every age its progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food.”
~ Lord Acton, The History of Freedom in Antiquity (1877)
Addendum: Here is a piece authored by S. Medalla that examines ‘The Physical Body in Crime, Punishment, and Law in Early New England.’ It is an excellent overview of the sundry punishments meted out to offenders in New England, circa 1630-1675.
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1.31 Massachusetts Body of Liberties