New York Times, "sodomy", February 19, 1856

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The New York Times reports that the day before, on February 18, 1856, in the New York City Court of General Sessions, Judge Capron had ruled that gambling was legitimately defined in state law as a “felony”, citing earlier precedents:


we are not without high authority for the construction on which we insist. Say several English writers, “at common law the only felonies were murder, manslaughter, treason, arson, burglary, robbery, rape, sodomy, mayhem and larceny. By statutes, however, running from the earliest periods, new felonies were from time to time created, till finally, not only almost every heinous offence against person or property, was included within this class, but it was held that whenever judgment of life or member was affixed by statute, the offence to which it was attached became felonious by implication, though the word felony was not used in the statute."[1]


The quote above includes the third use of the term "sodomy" in The New York Times.


For earlier uses of "sodomy" in The Times see:

New York Times: "sodomy", November 4, 1851

Reverend Dr. William Hamilton, Presbyterian Pastor, Mobile, Alabama: 1854


Notes

  1. "THE AFFAIR OF THE GAMBLERS.; Judge Capron decides that the Indictments are Good . . . ." New York Times, February 19, 1856, page ?Judge Capron cites 1 Hale, 703 and 1 Hawk., c. 40, 52.


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