The necessary complement of the records is of course found in the various compilations of statutes. For Massachusetts it has seemed best to cite by preference Whitmore's fine facsimile edition of the _Colonial Laws_ (Vol. I, 1660-72, Boston, 1887; Vol. II, 1672-86, Boston, 1889), which should be used in connection with his _Bibliographical Sketch of the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony_, 1630-86 (Boston, 1890); and Ames and Goodell's _Acts and Resolves_ (5 vols., Boston, 1869-86), which with the three supplementary volumes (Boston, 1892-96), cover the period of the provincial charter and carry us beyond the Revolution. The following original digests have also been employed: _The Book of the General Lawes and Libertyes of the Massachusetts Colony_ (Boston, 1660); _The General Laws and Liberties_ (Boston, 1672)--these two earliest codes being those reprinted by Whitmore; _Acts and Laws_, 1692-1714 (Boston, 1714); _Acts and Laws_, 1692-1765 (Boston, 1769); _Acts and Laws_ (Boston, 1759); and the collection entitled _Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay_ (Boston, 1814). The first digests of New Haven and Connecticut plantations are comprised in Trumbull's _True Blue Laws_ (Hartford, 1876). There is also a reprint of the _Code of 1650, to which is added extracts from Laws and Judicial Proceedings of New Haven Colony commonly called Blue Laws_ (Hartford, 1822); and a facsimile reprint of _The Book of the General Laws of 1673_ (Hartford, 1865). For the eighteenth century we have the _Acts and Laws of his Majesties Colony of Connecticut in New England_ (New London, 1715); _Acts and Laws of his Majesties English Colony of Connecticut_ (New London, 1750); _Acts and Laws_ (New Haven, 1769); and the _Acts and Laws_ (New London, 1784). For New Hampshire, the "Province Laws" published in Vol. VIII of the _New Hampshire Historical Society Collections_; the _Acts and Laws passed by the General Court or Assembly_, 1696-1725 (Boston, 1726); the _Acts and Laws_ (Portsmouth, 1761); and the _Acts and Laws_, 1696-1771 (Portsmouth, 1771), have been cited. To follow the tangled thread of Rhode Island legislation on any subject is a perplexing task; but the development of the written marriage law may be traced with tolerable clearness in the published digests. See Staples's _Proceedings of the First General Assembly ... and the Code adopted by that Assembly in 1647_ (Providence, 1847); Rider's facsimile reprint of the code of 1705, entitled _Laws and Acts of his Majesties Colony of Rhode Island_, 1636-1705 (Providence, 1896); his facsimile reprint of the code of 1719, entitled _The Charter and the Laws of his Majesties Colony of Rhode-Island in America_ (Providence, 1895); also the original