Criminal Cohabitation

1). A judge in WHICH state recently struck down a 200-year-old law that criminalized unmarried couples from living together? (Hint: There are more than 144,000 unmarried couples living together in this state, according to the 2000 census)

A. Texas
B. North Carolina
C. Kansas
D. Georgia


2). How many other states have laws on the books that prohibit such cohabitation among unmarried adults?

A. 6
B. 3
C. 1
D. 0


ANSWERS

1). B: The North Carolina suit against the cohabitation law was brought by a female former sheriff’s dispatcher who was forced to quit her job because she wouldn’t marry her live-in boyfriend of three years.

The law stated, in part, “If any man and woman, not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate, bed and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.”

The judge ruled the law to be unconstitutional, noting that the government has no business regulating private relationships between consenting adults.

2). A: Six other states have similar laws: Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and North Dakota.