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Territorial Divorce (tap to read)

4/9/2023

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Divorce is always painful, even if both parties are amicable. We’ve all experienced or none of divorces that were far from friendly.
 
Dealing with dueling lawyers is bad enough, but what if you also had to deal with the Idaho Legislature?
 
In the early days of Idaho Territory, couples seeking to split had to appear before the Legislature, which acted as a divorce court.
 
Here’s an example of what that might look like from an 1881 divorce:
 
“Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho, as follows:
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“Section 1. That the bonds of matrimony heretofore and now existing between Martin Fallon and Mary Fallon, his wife, be, and the same are hereby dissolved, and declared void.

“Section 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
“Approved February 9, 1881.”
           
No doubt we’d have a full-time Legislature today if that tradition had remained in place.

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    Author, Speaker

    Rick Just has been writing about Idaho history since 1989 when he wrote and recorded scripts for the Idaho Centennial Commission’s daily radio program, Idaho Snapshots. One of his Idaho books explores the history of Idaho's state parks: Images of America, Idaho State Parks. Rick also writes a regular column for Boise Weekly.

    Rick does public presentations on Idaho's state park history and the history of the Morrisite war for the Idaho Humanities Council's Speakers Bureau.idahohumanities.org/programs/inquiring-idaho/
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    Check out Rick's history of Idaho State Parks.

    The audio link below is to Rick's Story Story Night set called "Someplace Not Firth"

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