DRUNKENNESS

From Agepedia

DRUNKENNESS is made a crime by some codes of laws. A statute of Connecticut provides that if a man is " found drunk so as to be bereaved and disabled in his reason and understanding, appearing either in his speech, gesture or behavior," he shall be subject to a fine, for the use of the town, of one dollar and thirtyfour cents. The fine for the same offence, in New Jersey, is one dollar, and the party is liable to be put in the stocks, if it be not paid. In Delaware, it is five shillings. But this vice does not appear among the crimes and misdemeanors of the statutebook, in the codes of all the United States. The English statutes of 4 James I, chapter 5, and 21 James I, chapter 7, provide, that if any person shall be convicted of drunkenness, he shall forfeit five shillings, to be levied by distress, and, for want of a distress, shall be set in the stocks. (See Intoxication.)