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CHAPTER VII.

PROVISIONS OF PENAL CODE,

Relating to Religious Corporations, and the Observance of Sunday,

259. The Sabbath-The first day of the week being by general consent set apart for rest and religious uses, the law prohibits the doing on that day of certain acts hereinafter specified, which are serious interruptions of the repose and religious liberty of the community.

§ 260. Sabbath breaking.-A violation of the foregoing prohibition is Sabbath breaking.

§ 263. Labor prohibited-All labor on Sunday is prohibited, excepting the works of necessity and charity. In works of necessity or charity is included whatever is needful during the day for the good order, health or comfort of the community.

§ 264. Persons observing another day as a Sabbath.—It is a sufficient defense to a prosecution for work or labor on the first day of the week, that the defendant uniformly keeps another day of the week as holy time, and does not labor on that day, and that the labor complained of was done in such manner as not to interrupt or disturb other persons in observing the first day of the week as holy time.

§ 265. Public sports. All shcoting, hunting, fishing, playing, horse-racing, gaming or other public sport, exercises or shows, upon the first day of the week, and all noise disturbing the peace of the day, are prohibited.

§ 266. Trades, manufactures, and mechanical employments.— All trades, manufactures, agricultural or mechanical employments upon the first day of the week are prohibited, except

that when the same are works of necessity, they may be per formed on that day, in their usual and orderly manner, so as not to interfere with the repose and religious liberty of the community.

§ 267. Public traffic-All manner of public selling or offering for sale of any property upon Sunday is prohibited, except that articles of food may be sold and supplied at any time before ten o'clock in the morning, and except also that meals may be sold to be eaten on the premises where sold or served elsewhere by caterers; and prepared tobacco in places other than where spirituous or malt liquors or wines are kept or offered for sale, and fruit, confectionery, newspapers, drugs, medicines, and surgical appliances may be sold in a quiet and orderly manner at any time of the day

§ 268. Serving process.-All service of legal process of any kind whatever, upon the first day of the week, is prohibited, except in cases of breach of the peace, or apprehended breach of the peace, or when sued out for the apprehension of a person charged with crime, or except where such service is specially authorized by statute. Service of any process upon said day except as herein permitted, is absolutely void for any and every purpose whatever.

§ 269. Sabbath breaking.-Sabbath breaking is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not less than five dollars and not more than ten dollars, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding five days, or by both, but for a second or other offense, where the party shall have been previously convicted, it shall be punishable by a fine not less than ten dollars and not more than twenty dollars, and by imprisonment in a county jail not less than five nor more than twenty days.

§ 270. Forfeiture of commodities exposed for sale.-- In addition to the penalty imposed by the last section, all property and commodities exposed for sale on the first day of the week in violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be forfeited.

Upon conviction of the offender by a justice of the peace of a county, or by any police justice or magistrate, or by a mayor, recorder or alderman of a city, such officer shall issue a warrant for the seizure of the forfeited articles, which, when seized, shall be sold on one day's notice, and the proceeds paid to the overseers of the poor for the use of the poor, of the town or city.

§ 271. Remedy for maliciously serving process.-- Whoever maliciously procures any process in a civil action to be served on Saturday, upon any person who keeps Saturday as holy time, and does not labor on that day, or serves upon him any process returnable on that day, or maliciously procures any civil action to which such person is a party to be adjourned to that day for trial, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

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§ 272. Compelling adoption of a form of belief.— An attempt. by means of threats or violence, to compel any person to adopt,. practice or profess a particular form of religious belief, is a misdemeanor.

§ 273. Preventing performance of religious act.-A person who willfully prevents by threats or violence another person from performing any lawful act enjoined upon or recommended to such person by the religion which he professes, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 274. Disturbing religious meetings.-A person who willfully disturbs, interrupts or disquiets any assemblage of people met for religious worship, by any of the acts enumerated in the next section, is guilty of a misdemeanor

[See notes at end of penal provisions.]

275, Definition of the offense. The following acts, or any of them, constitute disturbance of a religious meeting:

1. Uttering any profane discourse, committing any rude or indecent act, or making any unnecessary noise, either within the place where such meeting is held, or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting;

2. Engaging in, or promoting, within two miles of the place where a religious meeting is held, any racing of animals or gam

ing of any description; or elsewhere than in a city or village keeping open any huckster shop, inn, store or grocery, in any other place than that in which such business shall have usually been carried on; or eleswhere than in a city exhibiting within the distance aforesaid any shows or plays, unless the same shall have been duly licensed by the proper authorities;

3. Obstructing in any manner, without authority of law, within the like distance, free passage along a highway to the place of such meeting.

Processions

and parades

§ 276. on Sunday.- All processions and parades on Sunday in any city, excepting only funeral processions for the actual burial of the dead, and processions to and from a place of worship in connection with a religious service there celebrated, are forbidden; and in such excepted cases there shall be no music, fireworks, discharge of cannon or firearms, or other disturbing noise. At a military funeral, and at the burial of a national guardsman, or of a deceased member of an association of veteran soldiers, or of a disbanded militia regiment, or of a secret fraternal society, music may be played while escorting the body, but not within one block of a place of worship where service is then celebrated. A person willfully violating any provision of this section is punishable by fine not exceeding twenty dollars or imprisonment not exceeding ten days, or by both. (Thus amended, L. 1895, ch. 778.)

§ 277. Theatrical and other performances.-- The performance of any tragedy, comedy, opera, ballet, farce, negro minstrelsy, negro or other dancing, wrestling, boxing with or without gloves, sparring contest, trial of strength, or any part or parts therein, or any circus, equestrian or dramatic performance or exercise or any performance or exercise of jugglers, acrobats, club performances or rope dancers on the first day of the week is forbidden; and every person aiding in such exhibition, performance or exercise by advertisement, posting or otherwise, and every owner or lessee of any garden, building or other room,

place or structure, who leases or lets the same for the purpose of any such exhibition, performance or exercise, or who assents to the use of the same, for any such purpose, if it be so used, is guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition to the punishment therefor provided by statute, every person violating this section is subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars, which penalty "The Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents" in the city of New York, for the use of that society, and the overseers of the poor in any other city or town, for the use of the poor, are authorized in the name of the people of this State, to recover. Besides this penalty, every such exhibition, performance or exercise, of itself, annuls any license which may have been previously obtained by the manager, superintendent, agent, owner or lessee, using or letting such building, garden, room, place or other structure, or consenting to such exhibition, performance or exercise.

$650. Property in house of worship, etc.- A person, who willfully and without any authority, breaks, defaces or otherwise injures any house of religious worship, or any part thereof, or any appurtenance thereto, or any book, furniture, ornament, musical instrument, article of silver or plated ware, or other chattel kept therein for use in connection with religious worship, is guilty of felony.

Any person, including a member or pewholder, disturbing a religious meeting may be removed therefrom by the application of force sufficient for that purpose. It is not necessary that the disturbance should be willful. Wall v. Lee, 34 N. Y. 141.

But a regulation that a person shall not go out during service is a restraint on personal liberty, and an action for assault may be maintained against the officer who attempts to enforce it. People v. Brown, 1 Wheeler's Cr. Ca. 124.

An action may be brought by the religious corporation against a railroad company for a nuisance, in running cars and engines, ringing bells, etc., in the vicinity of the meeting-house, which so annoy and molest the congregation worshipping as greatly to depreciate the value of the house as a place of worship. First Baptist Ch. v. Schenectady, etc., R. R., 5 Barb. 79. But in First Baptist Ch. v. Utica, etc., R. R. Co., 6 Barb. 313; held, that the trustees being owners of the building could not bring an action for the same cause; that the damages to the property are too remote.

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