What legal power did the Stubborn Child Law of 1646 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony grant to parents?

The Stubborn Child Law of 1646 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony granted parents the legal authority to execute male children over the age of 16 for disobedience. This law was primarily aimed at addressing the challenges of parental authority and discipline within the context of the Puritan moral and social framework of the time. The drastic measure reflected the colony's strict views on obedience and social order, and it was founded on the belief that persistent disobedience was a serious threat not just to the family, but to the community itself.

In this historical context, disobedience was seen as not merely a failure of the child to respect parental authority, but as a sign of deeper moral and societal failure. The law was intended to deter rebellious behavior and reinforce the expectations of total compliance to family leadership. The extreme nature of this law also underscores the very different societal values of the 17th century compared to modern perspectives on child discipline and rights.