In America the Puritan colonists established, to the full extent of their power, the observance of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. The early laws of Massa- chusetts, Connecticut, Georgia, South Carolina, and Vir- ginia compelled attendance at church, the Massachu- setts law (1782) providing that such attendance was not obligatory where there was no place of worship which the person could conscientiously attend. When the Federal government was formed and the separa- tion of Church and State was fully recognised, the earlier vSunday laws were modified in conformitj' with this principle. The courts have been careful to dis- tinguish between Sunday observance as a religious and as a civil institution, and to enforce only the latter. The following are the grounds upon which our Sunday laws rest : The right of all classes, so far as practicable, to rest one day in seven; to worship undisturbed on the day set apart by the majority of the people ; the decent respect which should be paid to the religious institutions of the people; the value to the State of Sunday observance, as contributing to popular intelli- gence and morality. With the partial exception of Louisiana, Sunday laws e.xist in every state in the Union. These laws differ somewhat in detail and strictness, but the following general characteristics may be noted : Sunday is everywhere held as a dies non ; public affairs are suspended; legislatures do not sit; courts are not held, except city police-courts for an hour or two ; legal processes are not served. In most of the states common labor and traffic are forbidden ; contracts made for service on Sunday are invalid; pub- lic amusements are prohibited or restricted. In some states exception is made in favor of those who observe the seventh day of the week. In Louisiana the only Sunday law is that which makes it (with Christmas, New-year's-day, etc.) a public rest-day, and provides that citations shall not issue, nor proceedings be had, nor suits instituted on that day, and that it shall not be reckoned in computing interest and in protests, etc. The Constitution of the LTnited States provides that Sundaj' shall not be reckoned in the ten days within which the president may return an\' bill; the Federal courts and ofiiices of the departments are closed ; the post-oflSce service is restricted; no session of Congress is held, or, if held on that day, it is considered as being part of the preceding Saturday ; and provision is made by an act of Congress for the observance of Sunday by the army and navy. Federal legislation respecting Sunday proceeds no further. The constitutionality of Sunday laws has been decided frequenth' by the high- est courts of the several states. Some of our statutes define the extent of the Lord's day. In Connecticut the courts have defined it as extending only from day- break to the closing of daylight on Sunday. General- ly, in New England, it is from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday ; but for many purposes, and proba- bly in most of the states for all purposes, it begins only
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at miihiight between Saturday and Sunday and ends with llie next midnight.
In France, during the Revolution, when the Chris- tian calendar was abolished and the decade substituted lor the week, every tenth day was made a rest-day, and its observance was cr.forced by a law (17 Therini- dor, an. vi) which required the public offices, schools, workshops, stores, etc., to be closed, and pniliibited sales except of eatables and medicines, and pubHc hibor ex- ce|)t in the country during seed-time and harvest. Wlicn the Gregorian calendar was restored, Sunday was recognised in the Code Napoleon (art. 25, 2G0). The law of Nov. 18, 1814, prohibiting ordinary labor, traffic, etc., and declared by the courts in 18o8 and 1845 to be still in force, is, practically, a dead letter.
In Switzerland recent legislation has granted to rail- way employes and all government office-holders at least one Sunday in every three; and still further restriction of Sinulay labor is being sought in some of the cantons. The question is agitated in Belgium and Germany of better protection by law of Sunday rest for operatives. See Cox, Literature of Sub. Question (Edinb. 1865); Amer. Law Rev. vol. ii; Prot. Ejmcopal Quar. Rec. vol. vii ; Hopkins, Sabbath and Free Lns/itutions, in doc. 29 of N. Y. Sabbath Committee; Judge W. Allen, opinion in Lindenmuller vs. The People, 33 Barbour. 548 ; Hes- sey, Bampton f^ectures (1860); Schaff, Anglo- Amer, Sabbath (1863). See Sabhath.
Sunday, John, or Shah-Wun-Dais, was a na- tive Indian, born of pagan parents in Canada. He be- longed to the Missisauga section of the Ojibway na- tion, and when a young man he served in the British army against the United States. He was converted in 1826, and shortly after was appointed a leader among the converted Belleville Indians. He was the earliest evangelical pioneer to the tribes on the north waters of Lakes Huron and Superior. In 1832 he was received into the Conference and was ordained in 1836, and the same year accompanied Kev. William Lord to England to plead the cause of missions, and remained a year at that work. A large part of his ministerial labor was l)erformed under the direction of Rev. William Case ; and he had charge of Alderville, Rice and Mud Lake, and JIuncietown circuits. He died in 1876. See Simp- son, Cyclop, oj' Methodism, s. v.