Massachusetts Body of Liberties
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The Massachusetts Body of Liberties was the first legal code to be established by European colonists in New England. Compiled by the Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward, the laws were established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641. The Body of Liberties begins by establishing the exclusive right of the General Court to legislate and dictate the "Countenance of Authority". Some of the other liberties established include the prohibition of a compulsory draft except for territorial defense, of monopolies, of an estate tax; the security of personal property from state impressment; and the freedom of all "house holders" to fishing and fowling on public lands. Some of the liberties legislated are explicitly citing within the law as originating from biblical sources. While many of the liberties established still exist in both and law and practice in the Commonwealth today, many do not.
