No one is bound to do work in performance of his contract on Sunday, unless the work by its very nature or by express agreement is to be done on that day and can be then done without a breach of law ; Cock v. Bunn, 6 Johns. (N. Y.) 326 ; Barrett v. Allen, 10 Ohio 426. Parties to a contract for program priv ileges at an opera house, contemplating the giving of Sunday concerts, will not be pre sumed to have intended violation of the Sun day law in giving such entertainment; Strauss & Co. v. Hammerstein, 152 App. Div. 128, 136 N. Y. Supp. 613. Where an acrobat's contract was for 8300 for each week, Sunday would be excluded if performances on that day were unlawful; Keith v. Kellermann, 169 Fed. 196.
Sundays are computed in the time allowed for the performance of an act ; 10 M. & W.
331; but if the last day happen to be a Sun day, it is to be excluded, and the act must, in general, be performed on Monday ; 3 Chit ty, Pr. 110; Street v. U. S., 133 U. S. 299, 10 Sup. Ct. 309, 33 L. Ed. 631; Monroe Cattle Co. v. Becker, 147 U. S. 47, 13 Sup. Ct. 217, 37 L. Ed. 72. Notes and bills, when they fall due on Sunday, are payable on Saturday, unless a statute provides otherwise. The in
dorsement of a note creates a new contract, and is an act within the statute prohibiting secular business on Sunday ; Bank v. Kings ley, 84 Me. 111, 24 Atl. 794.
See NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS. See, as to the origin of keeping Sunday as a holiday, Story, Pr. Notes § 220; Story, Bills § 223. See, generally, 17 Am. L. Reg. (N. S.) 285; 3 Rep. Am. Bar Association (1880); 2 Am. L. Rev. 226; 21 Alb. L. J. 424 (Sabbath-break ing); 28 Am. L. Reg. 137, 209, 273 ; State v. Lorry, 7 Baxt. (Tenn.) 95, 32 Am. Rep. 557 ; Schmid v. Humphrey, 48 Ia. 652, 30 Am. Rep. 417 ; McGrath v. Merwin, 112 Mass. 467, 17 Am. Rep. 122 (legality of labor on Sunday): 3 id. 371, n.; Sparhawk v. R. Co., 54 Pa. 401; 3 Cr. L. Mag. 632 (Sabbath-breaking; works of necessity). The Massachusetts law on this subject depends more on its peculiar legis lation and customs than any general prin ciples of justice or law ; Philadelphia, W. & B. R. Co. v. Steam Towboat Co., 23 How. U. S. 209, 16 L. Ed. 433.
As to execution of legal process on Sunday, see DIES NON.
See HOLIDAY; POLICE POWER; Friedenberg, Sunday Laws.