Thursday, September 27, 2018

Enforcement of a Strict Christian Moral Code in Upper Canada

The enforcement of a strict Christian moral code had a long royal pedigree in Upper Canada, as it did in Britain. Ever since the conquest of Quebec, the King had instructed the men who governed the Canadas to 'cause all Laws already made against Blasphemy, Profaneness, Adultery, Fornication, Polygamy, Incest, Profanation of the Lord's Day, Swearing and Drunkenness, to be vigorously put in Execution in every part of your Government; And ... [to] take due care for the Punishment of these, and every other Vice and Immorality ...'

--David Murray, Colonial Justice: Justice, Morality, and Crime in the Niagara District, 1791-1849, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History (2002; repr., Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014), 77-78.

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