Tuesday, January 14, 2003
North Dakota lawmaker pushes for repeal in state’s cohabitation law
A story released today by the Associated Press reports that a North Dakota legislator has asked a House committee to repeal an antiquated state law that bars unmarried couples from living together.
"It is clear that the law is unenforceable," said Rep. Mary Ekstrom, D-Fargo. "I don't believe ... that this is a question of morality. Rather, it is an abridgment of an implied freedom of association, that is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution."
The anti-cohabitation law says a man and woman may not live together "openly and notoriously" as if they were married. It carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
The offense is almost never prosecuted, Ekstrom told the House's Human Services Committee on Monday. The North Dakota Supreme Court last heard an appeal of a criminal cohabitation case in 1938, when it upheld the convictions of a man and woman who had been living together in the back of a secondhand store they operated.
Ekstrom and Sen. Linda Christenson, D-Grand Forks, are sponsoring this year's version of the repeal measure.
"We have got to be realistic and practical about how people live today," Christenson said. "Given the complexity of the society we live in, and the diversity of it, in terms of morality and law and what is and is not proper, I think we simply have to give people latitude."
