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Three Parts To The Puritan Judicial System

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The Puritans were a religious group in the New England colonies who wanted to purify the Church of England. The Puritans centered everything on God, even their judicial system. They had a theocratic system, which means they thought God had the overall authority. Their laws, court system, and punishments were all based on the Bible. The puritan era judicial system was a theocratic, unjust, and harsh system that enforced absurd laws; they practiced an unfair way of prosecution, and gave cruel punishments to the peccant.
The first of three parts to the Puritan Era Judicial System were their laws, which the Puritan leaders religiously enforced. In today’s world these laws would get viewed as radical, or restricting of our natural rights, because they were so strict. Moreover, some of these laws included: puritans cannot laugh ; puritans cannot beachcomb, to search the beach or tidal areas for things of value or novelty; church was extremely serious, the Sabbath day was everything to them and was not taken lightly; hunting for waterfowl, such as ducks, was illegal; drama or theatre clubs were forbidden; no religious music; no gambling; smoking was only allowed in private, never in public; greed or excessive eating was frowned upon; and idleness was wrong.
All of these laws seem ridiculous to us in today’s world. However, in the Puritan’s day, these laws made complete sense to them. The magistrates who originally wrote these laws, felt as if these were commandments from God.

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