Re:You are not bound by any law (Score 1)

But it would be much better if you kept on his good side for the reference and ability to keep this as positive work experience on your resume.

I disagree with these statements. Nothing you can do right now will change the value of the work experience you have so far gained. As for the reference, bosses usually make very poor references anyway. This is especially true of myopic startup bosses that get peeved when their techies leave.

Do you have any friendly co-workers that would give you a good reference? Most of the time the HR of a new job will call whomever you put on your reference list, and they'll ask what the relationship is if they care. My experience is that even if it's just someone you worked closely with, they'll take that as a good reference. I've gotten away with that countless times when I didn't feel comfortable with putting down a direct manager or boss as a reference. I've even put down people under my leadership as references, and it turns out that HR likes that even better when it applies.

In short, you have a lot of options when it comes to references, and it does sound like your boss is being extremely unreasonable. Walk away softly and don't touch anything, but don't worry about the references; you can be creative about those to good effect.