The United States’ Magical Congress instituted a law that segregated Wizards and Muggles in the late 1700s, J.K. Rowling has revealed.

Today’s piece on Pottermore discusses why the Magical Congress of the USA (or MACUSA) had to create Rappaport’s Law, which prevented Wizards from interacting with No-Majs in any way outside of “necessary daily activities.” This is an interesting development, because there was no segregation happening in Europe.

The law came to pass following “one of the most serious breaches of” the International Statute of Secrecy, which states that the Wizarding World be hidden from the Muggle world at large.

The breach: A girl named Dorcus, the daughter of MACUSA’s fifteenth President “became greatly enamoured of a handsome No-Maj called Bartholomew Barebone. Unbeknownst to Dorcus, Bartholomew was a Scourer descendant [As JKR taught us yesterday, scourers were an “unscrupulous band of wizarding mercenaries” who became increasingly corrupt.] Nobody in his family was magic, but his belief in magic was profound and unshakeable, as was his conviction that all witches and wizards were evil,” according to Rowling.

Dorcus ended up giving Barebone the location of MACUSA and North America’s primary wizarding school named Ilvermorny, leading the evil No-Maj to “the wand she had obligingly demonstrated for him, showed it to as many pressmen as he could find, then gathered together armed friends and set out to persecute and, ideally, kill all the witches and wizards in the vicinity. Bartholomew further printed leaflets giving the addresses where witches and wizards congregated and sent letters to prominent No-Majs, some of whom felt it necessary to investigate whether there were indeed ‘evil occult parties’ happening at the places described.”

The attention from No-Majs on the wizarding community became so severe that MACUSA was forced to move. Furthermore, President Rappaport couldn’t tell the International Confederation of Wizards with confidence that everyone who heard of MACUSA’s location — and who learned the other information Barebone had shared — had been Obliviated.

This serious breach led to the creation of Rappaport’s Law, which enforced strict segregation between the No-Maj and wizarding communities. Wizards were no longer allowed to befriend or marry No-Majs. Penalties for fraternising with No-Majs were harsh. Communication with No-Majs was limited to that necessary to perform daily activities.”

The law was significant because there was nothing like it over in Europe.

It’ll be interesting to see how Rappaport’s Law ties into Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is set in 1920s New York and opens in theaters this November. Will the law still be active during the 1920s? If so, the Fantastic Beasts lead character named Jacob — who is a Muggle — will certainly be interesting to follow, if according to the law he can’t legally work closely with Newt.

We know that a few of Newt’s beasts will be escaping from his suitcase and causing some havoc in New York, which we imagine will invite some Wizards and Witches to at least reference Rappaport’s Law.

Read Rowling’s full story on Pottermore.

On Tuesday J.K. Rowling wrote about the use of magic amongst Native Americans, and on Wednesday she told us about the effect the Salem Witch Trials had on wizards.

One more piece will be released Friday, which is expected to look at the Wizarding World during the 1920s.