State Court Strikes Down 1867 Local Law

  

   Cortland County's Local Law No. 3 of 1867 was struck down last Thursday in a delayed decision by Supreme Court Justice Robert Melvin in 6th Judicial District Court at Binghamton, New York. The Cortland County local law established conditions and procedures for confiscation and sale of real and personal property under the old state sodomy statute dated 1828.

   The identity of the plaintiffs-petitioners was sealed in the decision.

   The state sodomy law of 1828 allowed forfeiture of property after trial and conviction but gave counties the right of  procedure to secure the property. Justice Melvin noted that the Cortland County local law was enacted almost 150 years ago by a majority of county supervisors who were dairy farmers and cattle breeders. The local law, Justice Melvin wrote in the decision, was used arbitrarily against farmers raising sheep in Cortland County. “In this respect,” wrote Justice Melvin, “Cortland County’s Local Law No. 3 of 1867 resembles asset confiscation statutes of early frontier states. These laws were often applied by circuit judges who were under the influence of wealthy ranchers who wanted to eliminate competition.”

   The plaintiffs-petitioners, who have a working farm in Cortland County, are owners of goats, dairy cows and a large herd of sheep. Evidence of the local law and its arbitrary and capricious application surfaced during a real property deed search and related genealogical search by the plaintiffs-petitioners. The complaint did not allege actual damages or claim criminal or civil charges had been filed against the plaintiff’s or their property. Plaintiffs-petitioners requested that Cortland County’s law be enjoined and ruled “of no legal effect or legal authority” because the state criminal code for sodomy no longer includes a provision for confiscation of property.

   “The court has read the complaint and particulars… The court rules that Cortland County’s Local Law No. 3 of 1867 has no legal foundation or binding force , and the court permanently enjoins Cortland County from applying it.” Justice Melvin wrote.

   The court’s decision included a detailed history of relevant state and local law.

   In 1787 New York adopted a sodomy law which was based on English common law. It expressly excluded two women and any acts other than anal sex or bestiality between others. It retained the common law death penalty upon conviction. The sodomy law was revised in 1788 to include forfeiture of all property. In 1796 the sodomy law was revised again to reduce the penalty from death to fourteen years at hard labor. In 1801 the penalty for this crime was changed to life in prison. A comprehensive criminal code revision in 1828 reduced the sentence to ten years in prison.

   The first reported sodomy case in New York was Lambertson v. People in 1861. The Dutchess County Supreme Court sustained a conviction following an indictment that Lambertson “ in and upon the body of Peter Cohen, in the peace of God and of the said people, then and there being with force and arms, did feloniously make an assault, and him, the said Peter Cohen, then and there feloniously, wickedly, diabolically, and against the order of nature, with the said Peter Cohen, did commit and perpetrate the detestable and abominable crime of buggery, against the statute in such case made and provided, to the evil example of all others in like case offending, and against the peace of the People of the State of New York, and their dignity.”

   Justice Melvin noted that the Cortland County sodomy-related local law with its confiscation provisions was applied in April 1867 on the Lapeer property of Albert J. and Mary L. Pryce. The Pryce family raised sheep on their farm in Lapeer. Albert, age 47, was brought up on charges of sodomy and “depraved and wicked assault” upon the family’s sheep and was convicted on April 1, 1867. Albert Pryce was sent to state prison for ten years. The Homer Republican weekly newspaper carried a report of the trial and sentence. The Pryce’s livestock and farm were confiscated by the sheriff and sold at public auction. The high bidder was Clyde Parker of Marathon, who was also the person who filed the complaint and one of two witnesses against Albert Pryce.

   The county attorney's office declined to comment on the recent Supreme Court decision.

Editor's note, April 2. By now many readers have discovered that Supreme Court Justice Melvin was a fictional character, and that yesterday's post was an April Fool's Day prank. We contemplated an alternative ending for this story, but it would have exposed the flatulent fraud that it is, and spoiled the intended effect.
Some parts of the story are true. See the History of Sodomy Laws, New York.