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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1876 | 3 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 4 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 3 |
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| 1917 | 3 |
| 1925 | 1 |
107 stories matching invalid
- The Judge Who Dissolved Two Towns
A legal loophole in territorial law leaves aspiring municipalities in limbo after Judge Hanford declares the town-incorporation statute unconstitutional.
- The Seattle Legal Crisis of 1887
When an error in the law's title threatened to invalidate every court order in the territory, the Seattle Bar Association gathered to decide if the wheels of justice had ground to a halt.
- Ezra Meeker Tries to Take Back Puyallup's Park—and Loses
The state supreme court rules that a public dedication survives the town's invalid original incorporation, leaving Puyallup's park in the city's hands.
- The Courts Overrule a Legal Gambit
A municipal judge’s attempt to invalidate Seattle’s anti-gambling laws is struck down, ensuring the city’s crackdown on theater games continues.
- A Judgment Against the Man in the Moon: Tacoma's $2 Million Water Bond Fight
Judge Stallcup tried to invalidate $2,130,000 in water bonds. The water company's lawyer shrugged—and warned that bondholders would haul the city into court if interest went unpaid.
- The Day Seattle Suffrage Died
A technical legal oversight by the Territorial Legislature has stripped women of their right to vote and serve on juries.
- Tacoma's Water and Light Bonds Survive Their Day in Court
Judge Stallcup's suit to invalidate the city's light and water bond issue was dismissed in superior court; the case will go to the state Supreme Court.
- Legal Loophole Shuts Down Roslyn Saloons
A Supreme Court ruling invalidating town incorporations leaves local liquor dealers facing massive fines and total business closures.
- Benton County Courthouse Scheme Declared Invalid
The State Supreme Court strikes down a $125,000 bond issue, citing 'reeking' bad faith by county commissioners.
- City Ordinances Nullified by Printing Error
A procedural blunder leaves Aberdeen's recent city ordinances legally unenforceable.
- The Juror Who Ate Himself into Jail
A Seattle juror’s hunger at the Occidental Hotel led to an invalidated trial, a stern rebuke from the bench, and three months in the county jail.
- The Islander's Printing Contract Ruled Invalid
The Washington Supreme Court finds that San Juan County erred in awarding a printing contract to the Islander, directing the work to the Graphic instead.
- Street Peddlers Defeat Seattle’s Restrictive Ordinance
A municipal court judge rules that a city ordinance banning fruit and vegetable street vendors is unconstitutional and void.
- The Forgotten Settlers of Gray's River
Homesteaders who bought land from the Northern Pacific Railroad face eviction after the government declares the company's title invalid.
- The Nun on the Fire Escape
A delirious man, a locked bedroom, and a nun’s desperate climb up a high-rise fire escape to deliver medicine.
- The Defaulting Treasurer’s Last Stand
Seattle’s city treasurer, Adolph Krug, is sentenced to seven years of hard labor, capping a dramatic trial marked by desperate legal maneuvering to invalidate the city's charter.
- The Price of an Invalid Law
When the City of Whatcom arrested a man under an unconstitutional bicycle ordinance, the Supreme Court ruled he couldn't sue the city for damages.
- The City’s Missing Vote
Seattle’s ambition to modernize was stalled in 1892 when a legal technicality regarding the Ninth Ward annexation invalidated $135,000 in city bonds, exposing the messy reality of rapid municipal expansion.
- The Great Incorporation Panic of 1878
When a legal technicality threatened to render Seattle’s entire municipal government illegitimate, a frantic scramble to re-incorporate revealed the fragile foundations of early frontier law.
- The Cost of Adulterated Milk
A Seattle dealer faces legal consequences for using toxic additives in milk sold to the public.
- The Midnight Death of Seattle’s Charter
When a judge declared the city’s incorporation invalid in 1877, the local newspaper editor went on the warpath to save the municipality from 'gratuitous anarchy.'
- A Mother's Struggle
A judge moves to intervene in the life of a 15-year-old youth whose mother can no longer manage him.
- The Heiress, the Invalid, and the Absent Executor
A nineteen-year-old Snoqualmie woman fights a legal battle against a powerful executor who left her destitute and in debt despite a $100,000 family estate.
- The Strange Case of the County's Vanished Property
A legal battle over the former Collins claim reveals a messy history of county mismanagement, secret land deals, and invalid property sales.
- City Moves to Kill Unused Rail Franchises
Tacoma prepares to revoke streetcar franchise rights that have sat dormant for two decades.