Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/108

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between one hundred dollars and five hundred dollars, or imprisonment between three months and a year, or both. The law of Oregon declares that one who wilfully and knowingly performs such marriage ceremony shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary or county jail from three months to one year and fined from one hundred dollars to one thousand dollars. South Carolina provides that one who knowingly and willingly unites persons of different races in the bonds of matrimony shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than twelve months' imprisonment, or both. Virginia declares that he shall forfeit two hundred dollars, of which the informant shall get one-half; and West Virginia provides that the one who knowingly performs the ceremony shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not over two hundred dollars.


COHABITATION WITHOUT INTERMARRIAGE

A few States have statutes relative to illicit relations between white and colored persons, where no marriage is pretended to exist. Alabama imposes for this offence upon both man and woman the same punishment as for intermarriage; a living together in adultery one day with intent to continue that relation has been held to constitute a violation of the statute.[45] Florida declares that, if any white person and Negro or mulatto shall live together in adultery or fornication with each other, each shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding a year, or by a fine not exceeding a thousand dollars. The law adds that any Negro man and white woman or any white man and Negro