Washington Laws In 1914

 

For $10 at a thrift store, I brought home a copy of Washington Laws Made Plain compiled by Hon. J.T.S. Lyle, Attorney-at-Law, Tacoma, Washington, and presented by the Okanogan State Bank, Riverside and Loomis, Washington.  It is  hoot!

MARRIAGE:  Marriage is a civil contract which may be entered into by males of the age of 21 years and females of the age of 18 years who are otherwise capable. (What does THAT mean?)

Then there was a paragraph of prohibited marriages between "nearer of kin" with the ending admonition that "If any person being within the degrees of consanguinity of affinity in which marriages are prohibited by this section carnally know each other they shall be guilty of incest and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten years and not less than one year."

Here's the "dessert:"  No woman under the age of 45 years, or a man of any age, except he marry a woman over the age of 45 years, either of whom is a common drunkard, habitual criminal, epiletic, imbecile, feeble-minded person, idiot or insane person, or person who has theretofore been afflicted with hereditary insanity, or who is afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis in its advanced stages, or any contagious venereal diseases shall intermarry or marry any other person within this state."

Goodness gracious indeed.