Laws of Washington Territory, enacted by the Legislative Assembly, at its Eleventh Biennial Session, 1887-8.

£250 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A rare Washington Territory law book with a local legal provenance. This copy from the library of Bates Burnett, a law firm operating in Vancouver, WA in the early decades of the twentieth century. Also with contemporary pen ownership inscription to upper cover of Jared A. Rochford (1859-1944), a well known Stevens County Prosecutor who first began practicing in Yakima, Washington Territory in 1888, as part of the firm Rochford, Jones Newman. This volume of Washington legislature restores the rights of women, Native American, First Nations and bi-racial citizens to vote. This right had originally been granted in 1883, but was struck down in 1887 by a spurious legal challenge. The 1888 laws also include a “Memorial to Congress” calling for the exclusion of Chinese labourers from the United States. This represents a continuation to the “Yellow Peril” anti-Chinese sentiments which had seen violent rioting through Tacoma and Seattle in 1885-1886.

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