what is the blue law in the U.S.A.?

Answer 1

A blue law, in the United States and Canada, is a type of law restricting certain activities, particularly shopping hours, on Sunday.

Answer 2

There is no federal blue law, however blue laws refer to laws against alcohol sales at certain times of day or week and any other sort of restriction on these sorts of sales.

For instance in Oregon you can't buy hard alcohol at a grocery store or on Sundays, this would be considered a blue law.

Lucky for me, I am in California and can buy tequila at 3 a.m. from a grocery store whenever I damn well want to.

Answer 3

Blue laws are state and local laws restricting certain activities on Sundays. For more information check out Wikipedia.

Answer 4

Blue Laws are a general collection of laws restricting the sale of alcohol on Sundays, presumably to keep people from showing up
drunk to church. Some States still have them, others got rid of them.

Answer 5

blue laws


legislation regulating public and private conduct, especially laws relating to Sabbath observance. The term was originally applied to the 17th-century laws of the theocratic New Haven colony; they were called “blue laws” after the blue paper on which they were printed. New Haven and other Puritan colonies of New England had rigid laws prohibiting Sabbath breaking, breaches in family discipline, drunkenness, and excesses in dress. Although such legislation had its origins in European Sabbatarian and sumptuary laws, the term “blue laws” is usually applied only to American legislation. With the dissolution of the Puritan theocracies after the American Revolution, blue laws declined; many of them lay forgotten in state statute books only to be revived much later. The growth of the prohibition movement in the 19th cent. and early 20th cent. brought with it other laws regulating private conduct. Many states forbade the sale of cigarettes, and laws prohibited secular amusements as well as all unnecessary work on Sunday; provision was made for strict local censorship of books, plays, films and other means of instruction and entertainment. Although much of this legislation has been softened if not repealed, there are still many areas and communities in the United States, especially those where religious fundamentalism is strong, that retain blue laws. The Supreme Court has upheld Sunday closing laws ruling that such laws do not interfere with the free exercise of religion and do not constitute the establishment of a state religion.

Answer 6

A law designed to regulate commercial business on Sunday.
One of a body of laws in colonial New England designed to enforce certain moral standards and particularly to prohibit specified forms of entertainment or recreation on Sundays.

The Blue Laws of the Colony of Connecticut, as opposed to any "blue law" in particular, usually refers to the initial standard setup by the Gov. Theophilus Eaton, with the assistance of the Rev. John Cotton, in 1655 for the Colony of New Haven, now part of Connecticut. After the laws were approved, they were printed en massè in London, England in 1656 so that every household in New Haven could have its own copy. They are often times referred to as the "blue laws" due to various interpretations (see: Blue law).

A "sketch" of these same Blue Laws of Connecticut, according to the Rev. Samuel Peters, who often times as not is criticized for a supposed stilt upon the fact of puritanical extremities, were exactly as follows. The author admits himself, though, that these "laws" were not actually put into draft, but their likewise existence can still be proven through similar laws and statutes that New Haven and Connecticut amalgamated into their own codes or simply borrowed from codes that had already been placed into effect by adjacent colonies such as the anti-papal or anti-Quaker codes of Virginia and New York.

Answer 7

The Blue Laws are what changed hours and days that businesses could be open i.e. Sundays.

Answer 8

I remember when Arkansas was a Blue Law state. Only grocery stores were open on Sunday. They could ONLY sell GROCERIES on Sunday, though. No magazines, music, T-shirts, etc.

Answer 9

thats too funny..i just heard someone speak about that today...theblue law was a law or practice in the United States that businesses wouldn't open on Sundays out of respect and reverenece to this nation's roots in Christianity

Answer 10

Blue laws are laws that are on the books, but are not enforced anymore. As an example, there is a law which prohibits spitting on the sidewalk. BUT it is not enforced anymore.