The First Grand Jury with Women Jurors
A landmark challenge to women's right to serve on a jury in Washington Territory sets the stage for the April District Court session.
The April term of the District Court opened in this city yesterday, Chief Justice Roger S. Greene presiding. Before the jurors were sworn, J.J. Haines, as attorney for Henry W. Hall, K. Howard and William Stafford, challenged Louisa Denny, Lucinda D. Jacobs, Caroline Maddocks and Emma W. Wood, on the ground that they were not competent jurors, not being householders. He cited Judge Greene’s former interpretation of the law, that a householder is the head of a family, and urged that these married women could not be considered heads of families. He further challenged the women on the grounds that the Constitution, in providing that no person shall be held to answer for an infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, contemplated a grand jury composed of men. Mr. McNaught, as attorney for Morice, Eester, and Pritchard, made the same objections to the jurors named. The challenges were instantly disallowed by Judge Greene, and exceptions were taken by the attorneys.
“For any one to have part in such administration is at once a high personal privilege and a severe test of individual integrity.”
This event captures a pivotal moment when Washington Territory was at the forefront of women's rights, years before national suffrage. While lawyers tried to use archaic definitions of 'householder' to exclude women, Judge Greene's rejection of their challenge affirmed that the legal system could—and would—include women as full civic participants.
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