Some facts about Sunday
Sunday is first day of the week, observed by Christians almost universally as a holy day in honor of the resurrection of Christ.
The hallowing of Sunday appears incontestably as a definite law of the church in the beginning of the 4th century. The emperor Constantine confirmed the custom by a law of the state.
Throughout the medieval period the authority of the church was so universally recognized that secular legislation in this regard was almost unnecessary. The Catholic Church then required, and still requires, abstinence from servile work on Sunday, and the assistance at Mass of all who are not lawfully hindered.
In the medieval period the courts were presided over or dominated by the clergy, and Sunday early became in the legal sense a dies non, on which legal proceedings could not be conducted. By common law, however, all other business might be transacted.
The New England States were the first to regulate the observance of Sunday by a series of statutes. The Constitution of the United States prohibits the restriction of religious liberty or the enforcement of religious observances, and therefore, in law, Sunday is regarded merely as a civil day, which is a convenient one for the suspension of business, because of its observance as a holy day by a great majority of the people. These statutes are constitutional as a valid exercise of the police power. Works of necessity and great public convenience are usually excepted.
