201 years ago, North Carolina passed a law (N.C.G.S. § 14‑184) which made it a criminal offense for a man and woman to live together unless they were married.  Specifically, the law says:

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.

That archaic law was never taken off the books.

To North Carolina’s credit, it was rarely enforced. 

But in 2004, a 9-1-1 dispatcher with the Pender County Sheriff’s Office named Debora Hobbs was called into her employer’s office and given a choice: marry the man she was currently living with, or be fired from her job.

She went with door number 3, suing her employer’s ass.  The NC Chapter of the ACLU joined in.

Yesterday, State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued a ruling that the law was unconstitutional on its face and as applied to Hobbs.

From the ACLU press release:

“I am absolutely thrilled with the court’s decision,” said Hobbs. “I just didn’t think it was any of my employer’s business whether I was married or not, as long as I was good at my job, and I am happy that no one else will ever have to be subjected to this law. I couldn’t believe that I was being given this ultimatum to choose between my boyfriend or my livelihood because the Sheriff was enforcing a 201-year-old law that clearly violates my civil rights.”

Jennifer Rudinger, Executive Director of the ACLU of North Carolina, added:

“North Carolina’s cohabitation law is not only patently unconstitutional, but the idea that the government would criminalize people’s choice to live together out of wedlock in this day and age defies logic and common sense.”

It sure does did.