The Price of a Divorce
After abandoning her marriage to live with another man, Phoebe Bovee loses her claim to their shared property in court.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Yesterday marked the concluding chapter in the romance of Phoebe Bovee. Judge Langley signed her decree of divorce against L. Edward Bovee. They were married in Utica, N.Y., twenty years ago. After a short year, they separated, then reconciled, but parted again in 1875 due to Bovee’s dissipated habits. Mrs. Bovee later eloped with a man named Samuel McClure to a ranch in Kittitas county. For three years, they lived together and accumulated several thousand dollars’ worth of property in Seattle and valuable land in the county. When McClure refused to divide the property, Mrs. Bovee brought suit in the Superior Court of King County. Judge Osborn, before whom the case was tried, held that any contract between the couple was founded upon the consideration of illicit intercourse and therefore void against public policy. The motion for a nonsuit was granted, and the woman's hard-earned share in the community property was lost to her. Mrs. Bovee is now earning her living as a seamstress and leading an upright life.
“The court held that any contract which may have existed between the couple was founded upon the consideration of illicit intercourse and therefore void against public policy.”
This 1893 court ruling highlights the brutal way the law used 'public policy' to dispossess women in non-traditional relationships. By labeling their union as 'illicit,' the court effectively legalized theft, a sharp contrast to modern community property laws that aim to protect all partners regardless of marital status.
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