SUNDAY, the Lord's day in the Christian world, the first day of the week, and the day set apart for divine worship in Christendom, in memory of the Resurrection. Early apostolic writings bear witness to the sanctity of the day dedicated to the duties laid down in the fourth commandment, the equivalent in the Christian religion of the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday). Eventu ally the Roman emperor Constantine enjoined Sunday rest from labour, except agricultural, by constitutions, the first of which was decreed in A.D. 321, and most of which are contained in the code of Justinian.
English Laws.—In the 7th century A.D. the laws of Wihtred, king of Kent, provided that if a servant, contrary to his lord's command, did servile work between sunset on Saturday evening and sunset on Sunday evening, he should pay a fine to his lord; they forbade a servant to make a journey of his own on horse back on Sunday under penalty of a fine or the lash, and a free man to work during the forbidden time, under certain penalties including the payment of half the fine to the informer, who also was entitled to the profits of the Sabbath-breaker's labour. On the other hand, Ina, king of Wessex, in the same century ordained that if a slave worked on Sunday by his lord's command he should become free, and the lord be liable to a fine of 3o shillings.
By a series of statutes, many of which are still the law of the country, it is illegal to work or to take part in certain forms of pastime on a Sunday, which in English law is reckoned from midnight to midnight. The first such prohibition in a statute is in 28 Edw. III. c. 14 (repealed) by which in 1354 the sale of wool at the staple was forbidden on a Sunday. Although the church had sufficient temporal power to visit Sabbath-breakers with its displeasure, Sunday observance was not ordained by statute until the reign of Edward VI. by the Act of Uniformity of 1551. By I. Eliz. c. 2 (1558) everyone had to go to church on a Sunday or be liable not only to the censures of the church but to a fine of twelvepence. The penalty was not formally repealed until 1846 (9 and io Vict. c. 59). It is still the law of England that members
of the Church of England are required to attend divine service on Sunday, and though in practice this law has not been enforced for generations, obedience to the law has been upheld by the High Court in the analogous case of Ascension Day as against a later Act relating to compulsory education attendance (Marshall and Bell v. Graham, 1907, 2 K.B. 112).
By the Sunday Observance Act 1677 tradesmen, artificers, la bourers "or other person whatsoever" are forbidden to carry on their ordinary businesses under penalty of a fine of 5s or two hours in the stocks in default. Acts have been passed to obviate some of the inconveniences in modern life caused by the 1677 Act, which however did permit the sale of milk before 9 A.M. and after 4 P.M., and of victuals in cook shops and fried fish shops (Bullen v. Ward, 1905, 14 L.J.K.B., 916). Other statutes followed but are all repealed. Still law are the Acts of 1762 (2 Geo. III. c. 15 s. 7), allowing fish carriages to travel on Sunday in London and Westminster; 1827 (8 Geo. IV. c. 75), repealing s. 2 of the Act of 1677 as far as regards Thames boatmen. The Bread Acts of 1822 (3 Geo. IV. c. io6) allow bakers in London, and of 1836 (6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 37) allow bakers out of London, to carryon their trade up to 1.30 P.M. Since an Act of 1871 (34 and 35 c. 87) no prosecution for penalties under the Act of 1677 can be instituted except with the consent in writing of the chief officer of a police district or the consent of two justices or a stipendiary magistrate. (Thorpe v. Priestnall, 1897, I, Q.B. 19.) Since 1871.—The result of the Act of 1871 has been in sub stance to make the Lord's Day Acts a dead letter as to Sunday trading. In London Sunday markets are usual in all the poorer districts, and shopkeepers and hawkers are allowed freely to ply their trades for the sale of eatables, temperance drinks and tobacco. The Factory and Workshop Act forbids the employment of women, young persons or children on Sunday in a factory or workshop (s. 34).