Strange Old American Laws

Reader situation	Documented provision	Where quoted	Planning use
You want land and settlement rules	Subjects forbidden, without a special royal license, to settle or buy reserved western lands	p. 147	Lead with this as a clear case of a ruler restricting where people could live.
You want land and settlement rules	A territory could seek admission as a state once it had 60,000 free inhabitants	p. 443	Use it to show how a population count was tied to self-government.
You want to know who kept local order	The governor appoints magistrates and other civil officers before a general assembly is organized	p. 439	Use it for the question of who held legal authority in a new settlement.
You want work and family rules	Wages for children placed under masters are paid by the parents or the masters	p. 105	Use it as an example of how households and employers were written into statute.
You want religion and Puritan-era context	Each person may enjoy their own judgments and consciences in religious matters	p. 51	Use it to balance the assumption that early colonial law only restricted belief.

Quotations and page numbers come from John Brown Dillon’s Oddities of Colonial Legislation in America, as digitized by Google Books.

A strange old American laws history works best when every law traces to statute text: the provisions below are quoted from John Brown Dillon’s Oddities of Colonial Legislation in America, not retold from internet lists.

The list is grouped by what a reader is likely to want. It covers land, local order, family and work, and religion. Readers who enjoy this kind of verified trivia can find more in our fun history facts collection.

Land, settlement and statehood

The oddest-sounding colonial rules often concerned land. The two provisions below suit readers who want to see how rulers and legislators controlled who could settle and when a territory counted as ready for self-government.

A royal ban on unlicensed western settlement

Dillon quotes royal wording that begins, “we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects”, and the provision on p. 147 bars them from settling on or purchasing reserved western lands without a special royal license. The phrasing is the memorable part. A ruler warns of “displeasure” and in the same breath calls the people affected “loving subjects”.

This item suits readers who want a primary-text example rather than a rumor. Its limit is that the quoted wording is a warning and does not spell out a fine or a punishment. Anyone who wants the penalty should read the full provision in the book before describing one.

A statehood threshold counted in free inhabitants

A territorial ordinance quoted on p. 441 promises “to provide also for the establishment of states, and permanent government therein”. On p. 443 the text sets the threshold: “whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein”, the state may seek admission to Congress. The detail that reads strangely today is the word “free”. The count was defined by the wording of the statute itself, so the population figure cannot be quoted without that qualifier.

This is a good choice for readers interested in how new states were meant to form. It is a poor choice for readers who want a quirky one-liner, because the number only makes sense next to the ordinance’s promise of permanent government. Both passages come from the same digitized Dillon volume.

Local order, work and children

Provisions about magistrates and wages show how early law reached into ordinary working life. Both are quoted passages, so each can be checked against the book.

Governors appointing magistrates

The text on p. 439 says that, until a general assembly is organized, “the governor shall appoint such magistrates and other civil officers”. The quoted passage gives the governor that appointing power for the interim period.

It suits readers asking who held legal authority in a settlement with no legislature yet. It does not describe how magistrates behaved or what cases they heard, so those points need other documents.

Wages for children placed under masters

A provision on p. 105 deals with children placed under masters, “whose wages shall be paid, either by the parents or masters of such children”. To a modern reader the oddity is that the statute says who pays when a child is placed in service, and that it names the parents as one possible payer.

This item suits readers interested in family and labor history. Only the payment rule is quoted here, so claims about ages, amounts or terms of service should wait until the surrounding statute text has been read.

Religion, morals and Puritan communities

Puritan communities attract most of the “odd law” searches, so this section separates what the documented text shows from what lists claim. The verified material here is narrower than many lists, but it is checkable.

A provision protecting conscience

Dillon quotes language on p. 51 that lets a person “freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences” in religious matters. It is not a strange law in the usual sense. It earns a place because it corrects the assumption that colonial statutes only restricted belief.

Readers searching for puritan laws odd should treat each claimed rule as needing its own citation, because the documented record includes protections of conscience as well as restrictions.

Why did Puritan communities regulate everyday behavior?

Dillon’s subtitle lists “religion” and “morals” beside public lands and primitive education as subjects of colonial legislation. That scope shows colonial lawmakers treated conduct and belief as proper business for statute rather than private matters. The framing also explains why odd-sounding rules cluster around church, family and behavior.

The motives of a particular Puritan community belong to that community’s own statutes and preambles. A reader who wants to explain one specific rule should quote the rule and its stated purpose together, instead of leaning on a general claim about Puritan character.

The book behind the list

Oddities of Colonial Legislation in America is by John Brown Dillon, dated 1879, with R. Douglass as editor. Google Books lists it at 784 pages, digitized on 26 Jul. 2006 from a copy originally held by Harvard University. Its subtitle covers public lands, primitive education, religion, morals and Indians, which is why the provisions above fall into those groups.

The book suits researchers who want quoted statute text with page numbers. It is also a secondary compilation. Its index cites Hening’s Statutes among the colonial legal sources, which gives anyone wanting the original wording a place to continue.

Telling documented laws from internet legends

A short routine separates a documented law from a legend. Run it before repeating any “strange law” you meet elsewhere.

Checks before repeating a law

1. Find the wording. A real law has statute text.
2. Name the compilation. Look for a citation to a statute collection, such as Hening’s Statutes, so the wording can be read in context.
3. Pin down jurisdiction and date. A colony, a territory and a later state are different lawmakers, and merging them is a common source of legends.
4. Separate quotation from commentary. A quoted line is evidence. A summary of that line is only someone’s reading of it.

Our guide to common myths about american history applies the same discipline to wider claims about the past.

Laws that are still on the books

Many pages promise “weird laws still on the books”. A statute printed in an old compilation is evidence of what lawmakers once wrote, not proof that it can be enforced now. Current force depends on whether the provision was repealed or replaced, so confirm it in a present-day state code before calling any law active.

Prohibition claims need their own statutes

Prohibition strange facts attract many legends. Dillon’s book is about colonial legislation, so it cannot verify any of them. Each Prohibition-era claim needs its own statute citation, applying the same four checks above.

If you prefer a different kind of verified trivia, try fun facts about the statue of liberty.

Frequently asked questions

Question	Answer
What were some of the strangest early American laws?	The documented standouts here are a royal ban on unlicensed western settlement, a statehood threshold counted in free inhabitants, governor-appointed magistrates and a wage rule for children placed under masters.
Is a law quoted in an old book still in force?	Not necessarily. Old compilations record what lawmakers wrote, and current force depends on whether the provision was later repealed or replaced.
Where can the original wording be read?	Dillon’s digitized book quotes provisions with page numbers, and its index cites Hening’s Statutes as a colonial legal source for the full text.
Does the Dillon book cover Prohibition?	No. Its subject is colonial legislation on public lands, education, religion, morals and Indians, so Prohibition claims need separate statute text.