From Religious to Secular Justice: The Transformation of Legal Treatment of Sexual Misconduct in Colonial Massachusetts

Abstract

In colonial Massachusetts, Puritan authorities regulated sexual misconduct as a communal moral offense grounded in religious doctrine, where both men and women were held accountable under laws governing fornication and adultery. As legal proceedings became more formalized and anglicized, female sexual conduct drew intense scrutiny in legal proceedings, leading courts to progressively exclude women from initiating prosecutions and providing legally recognized testimony. By the 1750s, women constituted nearly all defendants in nonmarital fornication cases, while men were effectively exempted from similar charges. This shift reflects a broader transformation from Puritan communal justice to a patriarchal legal regime that reframed sexual regulation as a mechanism for disciplining female sexuality, It also reveals how the law functioned to reinforce the gender hierarchy amid changing social and cultural norms.