In conclusion it may be noted that generally throughout New England neglect of the prescribed forms did not invalidate marriage, though the offender against the law might be punished.[451] It is historically probable, where words of nullity were not contained in the statute, that the irregular contract by simple present agreement, without intervention of a minister or magistrate, was valid. But this is a disputed point which will hereafter be considered in connection with the history of common-law marriage in the United States.[452] [Footnote 451: See the case of Usher _v._ Troop (Throop), 1724-29, in _MSS. Records of the Superior Court of Judicature_ (Mass.), 1725-30, folio 236. In 1724 John Usher, of Bristol, a minister of the Church of England, convicted in the inferior court of common pleas of marrying a couple without certificate of the town clerk, was fined 50 pounds and "forever thereafter disabled to Joyn Persons in Marriage." On appeal it was found: "If the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the Church of England are sufficient to support the Appellant here, in Joyning Persons together in Marriage without such certificate.... Then the Jury say the Applt is not Guilty; otherwise they say he is Guilty." The appeal was finally dismissed (1729) on default of the "appellee."] [Footnote 452: See chap. xviii, i.] III. COURTSHIP, PROPOSALS, AND GOVERNMENT OF SINGLE PERSONS It may be an exaggeration to say that the Mosaic code was the _corpus juris_ of the Puritan.[453] But it is certain that the early private law of New England was profoundly influenced by it. The family in many respects took on a patriarchal character. The sway of the house-father, though in the main just, became in theory despotic. Even the conception of marriage as a civil contract gained support from the Jewish law.[454] Our ancestors loved to cite the book of Ruth and other scriptural texts in its favor; and their view of the proper relations of husband and wife, those of parent and child, or those of man and woman before marriage, was derived directly from the biblical ordinances.[455] [Footnote 453: "Il y avait même un tel mélange de la religion à toutes les circonstances de la vie civile, que la législation, en certaines matières, en référait à la Bible qui était, pour ainsi dire, le _corpus juris_ des émigrants dans la Nouvelle-Angleterre. La famille, où ils avaient puisé le sentiment religieux, était forte parce qu'elle était unie; et le père, qui ressemblait en quelque sorte au patriarche d'autrefois, avait une autorité incontestée qu'on aimait, car elle était composée de bienveillance et de justice."--CARLIER, _Le mariage aux États-Unis_, 7, 8.]