Sodomy law: New Jersey, May 30, 1668
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Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (NY: Crowell, 1976) p. 106.
The representative assembly of New Jersey, meeting for the first time, made "sodomy" and "buggery" capital offenses. [1]
The wording of the New Jersey sodomy statute was almost identical to the "Duke's Laws" of New York. As in New England at this time, children under fourteen and the victims offorce were exempted from the death penalty, and were to be punished according to the court's discretion.
The New Jersey sodomy law was next revised in 1681. LINK
References
- ↑ 1668, May 30: New Jersey "sodomy" law; Aaron Leaming and Jacob Spicer, ed .. The Grants, Concessions, and Original Constitutions of the Province of New Jersey (Philadelphia: W. Bradford, 1758), pp. 77, 79.
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