Newspaper report of an 1830 bill in Washington, D.C. 

A breach of morality law was not taken lightly in the 19th century. The more serious morality laws often carried multi-year sentences, while lighter punishments resulted in a substantial fine. For example, an 1830 bill from D.C. noted that anyone convicted of buggery “shall be sentenced to suffer imprisonment and labor, for the first offense for a period not less than two nor more than seven years.”^[1]

However, most morality laws, except for bastardy, leave little proof that the crime ever occurred. In that case, how were charges brought against a person?

Fairfax County court case with the charge of buggery; county resident Chapman Steel was charged with having physical relations with a horse.

Chapman Steel was denied a pardon, reported in The Virginian-Pilot.

There were two ways that accusations of a crime against morality were commonly brought to the court system: a criminal proceeding with a jury decision, or a chancery case with only the judge’s opinion as the final word. Chancery cases take place in a court of equity, and were frequently used in cases of divorce to settle financial matters during a separation, while criminal proceedings addressed breaches of state laws. During a common criminal trial, one could raise a complaint against the accused, and the County Circuit Court would bring a case against the defendant. For Chapman Steel’s buggery case, the owner of the horse Steel committed bestiality with raised the complaint and Steel was found guilty of “having carnal intercourse and copulation with a beast, to wit, with a mare” by the State of Virginia.^[2]

 As punishment, Steel was “sentenced in Fairfax County to ninety days in the county jail.”^[3] He was later reported in a Norfolk newspaper as being refused a pardon from his sentence.

A Fairfax County case where Jacob A. Melius divorces his wife Isabella Melius over charges of adultery.

Chancery cases, on the other hand, were frequently used to sue for divorce. One spouse would file a chancery case accusing the other of a moral crime, usually adultery. The process of a chancery ruling was such: the party inciting the divorce suit would testify about the circumstances surrounding the supposed crime, the defendant would be brought in to testify, and the judge decided to grant the divorce.

For example, in Melius v. Melius, Jacob Melius accuses his wife Isabella of adultery. Isabella was found guilty of “[committing] adultery with one George Gant,” and the judge ruled their marriage “remediless.” Jacob won both the divorce suit and full custody of their four children.^[4]