People v. Mantei

The defendants were charged with being common gamblers in violation of section 970 of the Penal Law. December 16, 1928, was Sunday.

According to history as given by Lord Mansfield, anciently the courts of justice did sit on Sunday and all days were used alike for the hearing of causes. It has been said that they had two reasons for this. One was in opposition to the heathen, who were superstitious about the observance of days and times, conceiving some to be unlucky and others to be lucky, and, therefore, the Christians laid aside all observances of days. A second reason was that by keeping…