On February 3, 1887, the Washington territorial supreme court declares the woman suffrage act of 1883 unconstitutional by a vote of two to one.
Jefferson Harland, the plaintiff, had been convicted of swindling by a grand jury that included women. He appealed, claiming that women were not legal jurors and voters. The supreme court agreed and overturned his conviction by a vote of two to one.
The ruling was based on a technicality, namely that the official title of the suffrage act, "An Act to Amend Section 3050, Chapter 238 of the Code of Washington," did not adequately describe the content.
Sources:
T.A. Larson, "The Woman Suffrage Movement in Washington," Pacific Northwest Quarterly Vol. 67, No. 2 (April, 1976) 42.
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