Massachusetts Body of Liberties

Timeline

1. 1641Boston · Massachusetts BayPuritan lawyer Nathaniel Ward was commissioned by Governor John Winthrop to draft the code, which was reviewed and revised by the colonial General Court, fusing English legal tradition with the colony's self-governing needs.
2. 1641Massachusetts Bay Colony · Massachusetts BayThe legislature formally passed the Body of Liberties, establishing the right to trial by jury, protection of person and property, a restrictive religious order concerning heresy and witchcraft, and explicitly providing that slaves could convert to Christianity but did not thereby gain freedom, becoming the written basis for the colony's everyday justice and governance.