Colorado Historical Law Guide

Contents

Legal Ages at a Glance

General Principles

Two legal traditions, one state

Colorado rests on two legal foundations. The San Luis Valley, south of the Arkansas River, belonged to Mexico until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican–American War, signed 2 February 1848 with ratifications exchanged on 30 May 1848¹. Hispano colonists from the Taos Valley founded San Luis de la Culebra in 1851, and until American authority reached them these families lived under Spanish and then Mexican civil law — a system of written codes descended from Roman and Spanish law rather than from English judge-made rules. Their earliest land, water, and church records follow Mexican and Catholic forms. The rest of the territory came under English common law, the body of judge-made rules England developed over centuries, which the first territorial legislature adopted by statute in 1861. From 1861 forward Colorado was a common-law state, its law descended from England, and each spouse owned property separately.

The American legal system arrives

Before 1861 the law of four other territories — Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and New Mexico — reached different corners of present-day Colorado, and the mining camps of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush governed themselves through informal "miners' courts," "people's courts," and "claim clubs," bodies whose judgments the state later confirmed by statute². Congress organized the Territory of Colorado by the Organic Act of 28 February 1861, and the first territorial legislature that year adopted the common law of England, so far as applicable and of a general nature, together with the older British statutes in aid of the common law, as the rule of decision³. Civil law had governed the region before the legislature acted, and the common law took its place from 1861 forward⁴. Colorado became the 38th state on 1 August 1876.

A common law rewritten by statute

The legislature replaced common-law rules with statutes over time, and a few of those changes reorganize the records:

• 1861 — the territory adopts English common law, and re-enacts the descent, guardianship, marriage, and wills laws borrowed largely from Illinois.
• 1868 — the Revised Statutes give a married woman her own separate property, free of her husband's control.
• 1876 — at statehood, the surviving spouse becomes an heir outright, in place of dower (a widow's right to use one-third of her husband's land for her lifetime) and curtesy (the husband's matching right in his wife's land).
• 1881 — the marriage-license system begins.
• 1901–1903 — Judge Ben Lindsey's Denver court and the juvenile-court act move children out of the criminal system; the act of 1903 recodifies descent, wills, and guardianship.
• 1919 — majority in property matters becomes 21 for both sexes, in place of 21 for men and 18 for women.
• 1947 — the age to make a will is made a uniform 18 for both sexes.

For any given year, the rule in force is the statute where one had been passed by then, and the common law otherwise. The state's successive compilations — the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, the General Statutes of the State of Colorado, 1883, the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1908, the Compiled Laws of Colorado, 1921, and the 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated — carry them forward.

Legal Age of Adulthood

Majority at twenty-one for men, eighteen for women

For most of the period Colorado's age of full legal capacity differed by sex: a man reached majority at 21, a woman at 18⁵. This is the key to two rules that otherwise look odd — a woman could make a will of land, and could marry without a parent's consent, at 18, while a man waited until 21. Anyone below the applicable age was an "infant" or "minor" in legal language, whatever their maturity. An act approved 28 March 1919 ended the difference: from that year 21 was the age of full age for all persons in relation to property rights, and that is the rule the 1935 code carries⁵. The older ages govern any record made before 1919.

A minor's legal capacity

A minor could own property; what the law limited was the power to give it away or bind oneself by contract.

• A minor's contracts were voidable — good until the minor undid them. A contract already carried out stood until the minor did something to show he refused to be bound; a contract still to be performed bound him once he affirmed it after coming of age⁶.
• A deed made by a minor was voidable in the same way, so a minor's land was ordinarily sold for him by a guardian under a court order (see Inheritance).
• A minor away from home and not under a parent's care could make a binding contract for necessaries — food, clothing — an exception the courts kept for the minor's own protection⁶.
• Wages and salary stayed with the minor: an assignment of them by a minor was void⁷.

Marriage

Marriage was a civil contract

Colorado law treated marriage as a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties was essential⁸. That single idea does a great deal of work in Colorado research, because it is the root of the state's recognition of common-law marriage (below).

Who was old enough to marry

Two thresholds set by statute govern most records. A marriage in which either party was under 18 was voidable — it stood unless a court undid it⁹. And a marriage license could be issued, and an officiant could knowingly perform a marriage, for a male under 21 or a female under 18 only with the consent of a parent or guardian; where the couple had no parent or guardian in the state, the officiant used his own judgment¹⁰. Under the later licensing law the consent had to be written, sworn, and filed with the application¹¹. These consent ages track the age of majority — 21 for men, 18 for women — so a woman of 18 married on her own account.

From 1945 a firm floor appears: marriage was prohibited where either party was under 16, and such a marriage was void unless a court approved it by decree¹².

An underage marriage that was merely voidable was almost always left standing; an action to annul for non-age had to be brought while the party was still under 19¹³.

Common-law marriage was valid

Colorado recognized common-law marriage, and still does. Because marriage was a civil contract resting on consent, a marriage formed simply by the parties' present agreement to be husband and wife, followed by living together as husband and wife with the reputation of marriage in the community, was valid and binding, with no ceremony and no license¹⁴. This matters constantly in Colorado research: a couple may be legally married with no marriage record at all, their union provable instead by census entries, deeds, church rolls, children's records, and the testimony of neighbors.

Restrictions on marriage

By the code in force through this period the impediments to a Colorado marriage were four, and they applied to everyone alike except as noted below. A marriage was absolutely void if it was incestuous — within the prohibited degrees of kindred, meaning between parents and children and grandparents and grandchildren of every degree, between brothers and sisters of the half as well as the whole blood, and between uncles and nieces or aunts and nephews¹⁵. It was void if bigamous, that is, contracted while an earlier spouse was living and the earlier marriage still standing¹⁶. It was voidable for want of the age of consent (above)¹⁰. And from 1939 a physician's certificate showing freedom from communicable venereal disease had to accompany the license before any marriage could be performed¹⁷.

A marriage valid where it was celebrated was valid in Colorado, subject to the same bars on bigamy and polygamy¹⁶.

Marriage between white persons and people of color

From the territorial period Colorado declared marriage between a white person and a "Negro or mulatto" absolutely void, and the same section reached illegitimate as well as legitimate children¹⁸. The statute carried one unusual exception, written to protect the formerly Mexican population brought into the United States in 1848: its provisions were "not to be so construed as to prevent the people living in that portion of the State acquired from Mexico from marrying according to the custom of that country"¹⁸. The ban traces to an 1864 territorial act, was carried through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, the General Statutes of the State of Colorado, 1883, and the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1908, and remained in the code until the General Assembly repealed it in 1957¹⁹.

Colorado was organized as a free territory, and one marriage law governed everyone. Black, mixed-race, and Hispanic couples married under the ordinary law — by ceremony or at common law — and appear in the same town, county, and church records as everyone else, their children legitimate on the same terms.

How a marriage was recorded

Property Ownership

Which men could own land

The right to acquire, hold, and convey land belonged to every free man, and a man could hold land at any age, taking it by inheritance, gift, or purchase. What full age governed was the power to deal in the land himself: at 21 a man could buy, sell, mortgage, and convey his own land by his own deed. A deed he gave before 21 was voidable, so a minor's land was ordinarily sold through a guardian and a court order.

A married man kept the same power over his own land that a single man had: he bought, sold, and conveyed it by his signature alone (see below).

Which women could own land

A single woman or widow — a feme sole, "woman alone" — could buy, own, sell, mortgage, sue, and be sued exactly as a man could, and a woman of 18 did so in her own right.

For a married woman the law changed decisively, and early. Under the older common law of coverture (the rule that a wife's legal identity merged into her husband's, making her a feme covert, "covered woman"), a husband managed his wife's land and took its rents and profits, and her personal property passed to him. Colorado swept this away in stages, beginning with the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868. The real and personal property a woman owned at marriage — together with its rents, issues, profits, and proceeds, and any property she later received by inheritance, by gift under a will of land (a devise) or of goods and money (a bequest), or by gift from anyone other than her husband — remained her sole and separate property, not subject to her husband's disposal and not liable for his debts²¹. She could bargain, sell, and convey her personal property, and by later acts her real property too, and make contracts about either, as if she were single²²; she could carry on a trade or business on her own account and keep her earnings²³; and she could sue and be sued in matters touching her property, person, or reputation as if unmarried²⁴. Acts of 1872, 1874, and 1881 rounded out her power to sign notes and bonds, contract debts in her own name, and convey her land as freely as a single woman²⁵. By the 1930s the Colorado courts described the old "unity" of husband and wife as "a mere figure of speech" and coverture's disabilities as long since removed²⁶.

Two consequences follow for the records. A married woman's own land passed only by her own deed — her husband's separate deed conveyed no interest in it²⁷. And land granted to a husband and wife together was held as ordinary co-owners, each with a share that passed by that spouse's own will or heirs²⁸.

When a wife had to sign her husband's deed

At statehood, by the act of 1876, the surviving spouse became an heir of the other outright, taking the share the statute gave in place of dower and curtesy²⁹. A husband therefore conveyed his own land by his signature alone, and a Colorado deed of the husband's own property signed by him alone is the normal and complete form.

Two situations called for both signatures: the homestead — to convey or mortgage the family dwelling protected from creditors, both husband and wife had to join in the conveyance³⁰; and the wife's own land, which was hers to convey and carried her signature²⁷. So a wife's name on a Colorado deed usually means the land was hers, or the property was the homestead.

Which children could own land

A child could own land at any age, taking it by inheritance, gift, or purchase. Conveying it was the limit: a minor's deed was voidable, and a minor's land was ordinarily sold through the court by a guardian, whose bond and settlement appear in the estate file.

Witnessing a deed

A Colorado conveyance was made ready for the record by the grantor's acknowledgment — his statement before an authorized officer that the deed was his act. Recording it with the county clerk and recorder gave notice to everyone claiming an interest in the land, and a deed that stayed on the record for ten years counted as properly acknowledged even where the acknowledgment was missing or faulty³¹. Where witnesses signed, competency was the test: a witness had to understand an oath and be able to give a rational account of what he saw, which in practice meant an adult.

Enslaved people, free people of color, Hispanic residents, and aliens

Colorado was a free jurisdiction: slavery had been excluded from the northern and eastern portions by federal law and abolished in the southern portion under Mexican law, and the 1876 constitution prohibited it outright. Free people of color could own, hold, and convey land on the same terms as anyone else, and appear in the land records accordingly.

Foreign-born owners held a strong position. The alienage of an heir was no bar to inheriting land³², so a foreign-born family could take and pass land by descent even before naturalization; and, as noted below, an alien who had filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen could sit on juries, while non-citizens were assessed the poll tax alongside citizens.

Hispanic residents of the San Luis Valley became United States citizens under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which promised that the property of Mexicans in the ceded territory "shall be inviolably respected"¹. In practice, confirming their land titles was a long and often costly federal process. Colorado's two great Mexican grants were the Sangre de Cristo Grant of 1843, covering roughly a million acres including present Costilla County, and the Vigil and St. Vrain (Las Animas) Grant of 1843, covering much of the southeast. Because the U.S. Senate had struck the treaty article that expressly protected Spanish and Mexican grants, each claim ran through the federal Surveyor General, who investigated it and recommended it to Congress; only Congress could confirm a grant³³. Congress confirmed the Sangre de Cristo Grant in 1860, and in Tameling v. United States Freehold & Emigration Co. (1876) — a case that came up from the Territorial Supreme Court of Colorado — the U.S. Supreme Court held that a congressional confirmation of such a grant was conclusive and closed to judicial review³⁴. The communal rights of the original settlers on the common lands of these grants were litigated for generations afterward. For a researcher with San Luis Valley ancestors, the operative documents are federal: the Surveyor General's report, the act of Congress, and the land patent.

Chinese immigrants and other newcomers faced the era's hostility and its alien-land and immigration restrictions; where a foreign-born ancestor's fullest security of title mattered, look for whether and when he was naturalized.

Inheritance

An intestate estate: the surviving spouse and the children

A person who died without a will died intestate, and a single statute divided the estate. After debts were paid, it descended by the shares below³⁵:

The spouse's share is therefore a flat one-half whenever there are children, and the whole estate where there are none, without regard to how many children there were. Children already born kept the right to inherit from either parent after a divorce³⁶. From statehood forward the surviving spouse took this share as a true owner, so title to the land changed hands outright at death.

The widow's allowance

On top of her share, a widow could claim certain property as her sole and separate property, free of her husband's debts. Under the General Statutes of the State of Colorado, 1883, and still under the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1908, this was a list of specific goods and livestock — a bed and bedding, the family's wearing apparel, a cow and calf, a horse, saddle and bridle, household furniture, and the property otherwise protected from creditors — which the executor or administrator set apart to her, and which she could take in money or other property if the specified articles were not in the estate³⁷. By the 1930s the allowance had become a flat $2,000 in cash or property, still separate from her distributive share, the portion of the estate the statute gave her as heir; where the husband left minor stepchildren of hers, $1,000 of it was reserved for those children³⁸. It is a separate court record and usually names the widow and the children.

Disinheritance and the surviving spouse's election

A spouse could not be cut off by will. Where a husband willed away from his wife more than half of his estate, she could elect, after his death, to take one-half of the whole estate, real and personal, in spite of the will³⁹; the later code gave the same right to either spouse and required the written election to be filed in the county court within six months of probate⁴⁰. The election, or its absence, is in the probate file and tells you which the survivor chose.

Minors, guardians, and the ages of fourteen and twenty-one

A minor inherited immediately, but the inheritance was managed by a guardian under the county court's supervision and under bond. The court appointed a guardian in two typical situations: where a fatherless minor under 14 needed one, the court appointed; where such a minor was over 14, the child chose his own guardian, subject to the court's approval, and the court appointed only if the child failed to choose⁴¹. And where a minor who had a father living became entitled to an estate derived from the father, the court called the father to show cause and appointed him if a proper person, or another suitable person if not⁴². A parent could also name a guardian of the person of a child by deed or will — a testamentary guardian — and a married woman was declared the joint guardian of her children with her husband⁴³.

Two ages therefore matter in the guardianship records. A guardianship in which the child chooses is evidence the child had reached 14, which brackets a birth year. And because guardianship ended at majority, the guardian's final settlement dates the ward's coming of age and so approximates a birth year, and it often reveals a daughter's married name.

Children born outside marriage

Colorado gave a child born out of wedlock two paths into a family's estate. First, an illegitimate child inherited the same as a child born in wedlock if the parents afterward married and the father then recognized the child as his⁴⁴. A single marriage, followed by the father's acknowledgment, could therefore turn a child born years earlier into a full heir — so when an inheritance runs to a child whose birth predates the parents' marriage, the marriage and the acknowledgment are the records to look for. Second, a child born out of wedlock inherited from the mother the same as a child born in wedlock⁴⁴; and where an illegitimate person died intestate, the estate passed first to a surviving spouse and children, failing those to the mother (one-half) and her children and their descendants (one-half), and failing those to the mother's nearest blood relatives⁴⁵.

Paternity and support were handled through a bastardy proceeding, a suit to establish who the father was: on the mother's complaint, brought before the child was twelve months old, a jury determined the paternity of the child, and the court could order the adjudged father to pay for the child's support for a term of years not exceeding 18⁴⁶. A man who willfully failed to support his illegitimate child under 16 could be prosecuted for that failure without any prior adjudication of paternity⁴⁷. These proceedings name the reputed father and are worth searching in the county court records.

Wills, executors, and witnesses

The age to make a will depended on the property and, for a time, on the sex of the testator, the person making the will; the will ages tracked the age of majority. Two witnesses were required, and only a competent adult could serve as executor or executrix — the man or woman named in the will to carry it out:

A married woman could make a will, but she could give away from her husband no more than half of her property, real or personal, without his written consent⁵⁴. In the earlier period Colorado also recognized a nuncupative (spoken) will, made in the testator's last sickness before two witnesses and written down soon after, valid for personal property; the wills act of 1903 required every will, of real or personal property, to be in writing and attested⁵⁵.

Taxation

What was taxed

The tax that reaches individuals most directly in Colorado records is the property tax, levied on all real and personal property not expressly exempt and recorded in the county assessment rolls⁵⁶. Exemptions ran to public property, churches, schools, charities, cemeteries, irrigation ditches, and — for a period of years after 1876 — mines and the increase in land value from planting orchards and trees⁵⁶. The rolls list owners year by year, so they place a family in a county and show what it held; a household that owned nothing appears instead on the poll list described below. A state income tax was added by constitutional amendment in 1936 and enacted in 1937⁵⁷.

The poll tax

Colorado levied a poll tax (a capitation, or flat head tax on a person rather than on property). By statute it fell on every able-bodied male inhabitant between the ages of 21 and 50, whether a citizen or an alien, and it was a nominal sum — on the order of a dollar, part of it earmarked for roads and part for a military fund⁵⁸. A man became liable in the year he turned 21 and dropped off the list at 50, so a run of poll entries brackets a birth year within a few years. A working member of a fire company or the national guard was exempt⁵⁹. Payment of the tax stood on its own footing, unconnected to any other right or qualification.

Courts

Jury service

A juror had to be a male inhabitant of 21, a citizen of the United States or one who had declared his intention to become a citizen, who had not been convicted of a felony⁶⁰. Any man who met that test could serve, whether or not he owned land. Certain men — state and county officers, judges, clerks, justices of the peace, constables, attorneys, and any person aged 60 or over — could ask to be excused, and firemen and national guardsmen were exempt⁶¹. So the working test for most of the period was an adult male citizen, or an alien who had filed his declaration of intent, without a felony conviction.

Women on juries

Women became eligible for jury service in Colorado in 1945. A constitutional amendment adopted in 1944 opened jury duty to women on the same terms as men, with an exemption available to a person whose presence was needed to care for others, on whom jury service would work undue hardship, or who belonged to a religious sisterhood following its profession⁶².

Criminal responsibility and the juvenile court

Before the juvenile court, the common law Colorado had adopted set the ages of criminal responsibility: a child under 7 was incapable of committing a crime; a child from 7 to 14 was presumed incapable, and the prosecution could overcome that presumption by proving the child understood the wrongfulness of the act; and a child of 14 or over answered for a crime as an adult did³.

Colorado then became a national pioneer in treating children differently. Judge Benjamin Barr Lindsey, appointed a Denver county judge in 1901, at first used the 1899 school (truancy) law to keep children out of the criminal system, sentencing them to probation or reform school rather than jail. In 1903 the General Assembly created the juvenile court as a distinct court with its own docket and records⁶³. An act of 1907 established a juvenile court in every county of more than 100,000 people — at the time, only Denver — with jurisdiction over criminal cases involving children under 16, and a later act of 1923 extended the court's jurisdiction to children under 21⁶⁴. The result for a researcher: after these acts, a child under the statutory age has a juvenile-court file rather than an ordinary criminal case file, and juvenile files are typically closed. Lindsey — the "Kids' Judge" — presided until 1927.

Witnesses

A witness of any age could testify if the person understood the obligation of an oath and could relate the facts³. The trial judge examined a child before allowing the testimony, and where a very young child was allowed to testify, the jury weighed the evidence for what it was worth.

Between spouses, a special rule applied: a husband or wife could be examined for or against the other only with that spouse's consent, and neither could be examined, during the marriage or after, about communications made between them during the marriage⁶⁵. In a civil or criminal proceeding by one spouse against the other the rule gave way, and under the non-support statutes the wife was a competent witness against her husband with or without his consent⁶⁵.

Women and people of color as witnesses and jurors

Women were competent witnesses throughout the period, subject only to the spousal rule above, and served on juries from 1945. People of color were competent witnesses under the general law of the state. Because jury service followed the elector qualification, and Colorado's constitution guaranteed the vote regardless of race from statehood, Black men who were qualified electors were eligible to serve on juries from 1876, though other social and practical barriers persisted.

(Guide compiled by Jeniann Nielsen with AI assistance from Claude Opus 4.8 and Gemini Pro 3.1. Check primary sources as needed.)

Sources & Where to Verify

Every rule above is tagged with the law it rests on. The lists below show where to read those laws in full, and the reference works consulted, so anything here can be checked against the original sources.

Constitutions and Treaties

• Colorado Constitution of 1876. Art. II, § 23 (jury service, as amended 1944). Digital images. Justia. https://law.justia.com/constitution/colorado/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 2 February 1848. Arts. VIII–IX (property rights of Mexican residents) and the deleted art. X (land grants). Avalon Project, Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/guadhida.asp (accessed 23 July 2026). Also National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo (accessed 23 July 2026).

Codes and Compilations

• 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated. Denver: Bradford-Robinson Printing Co., 1936–. The code in force in the last decades covered here, and the volume against which the Women's Bureau report checked its citations. Digital images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1935coloradostat00colo (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Clark, William M., comp. General Laws of the State of Colorado. Tribune Steam Printing House, 1877. Digital images. HathiTrust. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008595779 (accessed 23 July 2026).
• The Compiled Laws of Colorado, 1921. Denver: Smith-Brooks Printing Co., 1922. Compiled by the Statute Revision Commission and printed the year after the compilation year, as the 1935 code also was. Named in the citation chains above and traced through the source notes printed in the 1908 and 1935 volumes.
• The General Statutes of the State of Colorado, 1883. Denver: Times Steam Printing and Publishing House, 1883. Read directly for this guide; arranged in alphabetically titled chapters with continuous section numbering. Chapters used: 28 (Descents and Distributions), 48 (Guardian and Ward), 60 (Judgments), 61 (Jurors), 71 (Marriages), 72 (Married Women), 94 (Revenue), 115 (Wills). Digital images. Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?id=9eq0AAAAIAAJ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• The Revised Statutes of Colorado. Printed by D. C. Collier, 1868. The first compilation of the territorial laws. Digital images. HathiTrust. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010471472 (accessed 23 July 2026).
• The Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1908. Denver: Smith-Brooks Printing Co., 1908. Read directly; it recodified descent, wills, and guardianship in ch. 157 (Wills and Estates) after the general revision of 1903, and its source notes trace each section back to the 1883, 1877, 1868, and 1861 provisions. Chapters used: 60 (Guardian and Ward), 77 (Jurors), 89 (Marriages and militia), 90 (Married Women), 122 (Revenue), 157 (Wills and Estates). Digital images. HathiTrust. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008966936 (accessed 23 July 2026).

Session Laws

• Act of 21 June 1860, ch. 167, 12 Stat. 71 (confirming the Sangre de Cristo Grant). Cited and discussed in Tameling v. United States Freehold & Emigration Co., below.
• Session Laws of Colorado. The acts cited in the notes, each to be read in the session volume for its year: the act adopting the common law (1861, p. 35); descent and the abolition of dower and curtesy (1861; 1876, p. 65); married women's separate property (1872, p. 122; 1874, p. 185; 1881, p. 53); the marriage-license act (1881, pp. 181–84); the interracial-marriage act (1864, as amended 1883, p. 243, and repealed 1957, ch. 124, p. 334); the general revision of 1903 (pp. 469–87); the act making 21 the age of full age in property matters for both sexes (1919, p. 406, approved 28 March 1919); the income-tax amendment (1937, p. 675); the health-certificate act (1939, p. 455); women on juries and the prohibition of marriage under 16 (1945, pp. 424, 426, 478); and the uniform will age (1947, p. 947). Digital images. Colorado Law Scholarly Commons, University of Colorado Law School. https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/session-laws-1861-1900/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Session Laws of Colorado, 1861–1950. Digitized and searchable. University of Colorado Law Library. https://lawcollections.colorado.edu/colorado-session-laws/ (accessed 23 July 2026).

Court Cases

• Brimble v. Sickler. 83 Colo. 494 (1928).
• Clayton Coal Co. v. Industrial Commission. 93 Colo. 145 (1933).
• Graham v. Graham. 130 Colo. 225 (1954).
• Hedlund v. Hedlund. 87 Colo. 607 (1930).
• Herr v. Johnson. 11 Colo. 393 (1888).
• In re Madril's Estate. 71 Colo. 123 (1922).
• In re McGary's Estate. 127 Colo. 495 (1953).
• Klipfel's Estate v. Klipfel. 41 Colo. 40 (1907).
• Palmer v. Hanna. 6 Colo. 55 (1881).
• People v. Lucero. 747 P.2d 660 (Colo. 1987).
• Perkins v. Westcoat. 3 Colo. App. 338 (1893).
• Sipes v. Sipes. 87 Colo. 301 (1930).
• Tameling v. United States Freehold & Emigration Co. 93 U.S. 644 (1876). Digital images. Library of Congress. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep093/usrep093644/usrep093644.pdf (accessed 23 July 2026). Also Justia. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/93/644/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Taylor v. Taylor. 10 Colo. App. 303 (1897).
• Wamsley v. People. 64 Colo. 521 (1918).
• Wells v. Caywood. 3 Colo. 487 (1877).
• Whyman v. Johnston. 62 Colo. 461 (1917).
• Williams v. Williams. 20 Colo. 51 (1894).
• Wilson v. Wilson. 55 Colo. 70 (1913).

Secondary and Reference Works

• Advancing Genealogist. "Historic Colorado Statutory Law." https://advancinggenealogist.com/historic-colorado-statutory-law/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Colorado Encyclopedia. Entries on San Luis, Colorado Territory, the Mexican land grants, common-law marriage, and Ben Lindsey. https://coloradoencyclopedia.org (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Colorado Virtual Library. "Time Machine Tuesday: Judge Ben Lindsey and the Juvenile Court." https://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org/resource-sharing/state-pubs-blog/time-machine-tuesday-judge-ben-lindsey-and-the-juvenile-court/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Denver Public Library. "Civic Duty: Colorado Women and the Jury Box." https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/events/civic-duty-colorado-women-and-jury-box (accessed 23 July 2026).
• History Colorado. "Colorado Hispanic/Latino Historical Overview." https://www.historycolorado.org/colorado-hispanic-latino-historical-overview (accessed 23 July 2026).
• History Colorado. "Forbidden Unions." On the interracial-marriage statute and its repeal. https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2025/09/19/forbidden-unions (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Lindsey, Benjamin B., comp. The Juvenile Court Laws of the State of Colorado, as in Force and as Proposed, and Their Purpose Explained. [Denver]: Juvenile Improvement Association of Denver, 1905. Digital images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/juvenilecourtla00denvgoog (accessed 23 July 2026).
• Molly Brown House Museum. "The Kid's Judge: Benjamin Barr Lindsey." https://mollybrown.org/blog/the-kids-judge-benjamin-barr-lindsey/ (accessed 23 July 2026).
• United States. Women's Bureau. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America: January 1, 1948, Report for Colorado. By Sara Louise Buchanan. Women's Bureau Bulletin 157-5 (Revised). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1949. The most useful cross-check for majority, minors' contracts, married women's property, dower and curtesy, wills, intestacy, guardianship, marriage, and jury service, with citations to the 1935 code. Digital images. FRASER, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/legal-status-women-united-states-america-5430/legal-status-women-united-states-america-january-1-1948-report-colorado-539557 (accessed 23 July 2026).
• University of Colorado Law Review. "Lobato v. Taylor and Mexican Community Land Grants." https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=lawreview (accessed 23 July 2026).
• University of Colorado Law School. "Historical Statutory Research." Colorado Law and Legal Research research guide. https://guides-lawlibrary.colorado.edu/c.php?g=703879&p=9064058 (accessed 23 July 2026).

Citations

1. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 2 February 1848, arts. VIII–IX; ratifications exchanged 30 May 1848; digital images, Avalon Project, Yale Law School (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/guadhida.asp : accessed 23 July 2026). ↩ ↩
2. The General Statutes of the State of Colorado, 1883 (Denver: Times Steam Printing and Publishing House, 1883), ch. 60 (Judgments), §§ 1889–1890 (confirming judgments of the miners', people's, claim-club, and "Kansas" courts rendered before 15 August 1862); digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com/books?id=9eq0AAAAIAAJ : accessed 23 July 2026). The provision descends from the territorial acts of 1861 through The Revised Statutes of Colorado (Printed by D. C. Collier, 1868); digital images, HathiTrust (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010471472 : accessed 23 July 2026), p. 385, and William M. Clark, comp., General Laws of the State of Colorado (Tribune Steam Printing House, 1877); digital images, HathiTrust (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008595779 : accessed 23 July 2026), §§ 1456–1457, pp. 537–38. ↩
3. Act adopting the common law, Session Laws of the Territory of Colorado, 1861, p. 35; re-enacted at the 1868 session and carried forward through the successive compilations; digital images, Colorado Law Scholarly Commons (https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/session-laws-1861-1900/ : accessed 23 July 2026). The common-law rules on the criminal responsibility of children and on the competency of witnesses governed in Colorado by force of this act; the particular Colorado decisions applying them are not run down here — read the annotations under the criminal-responsibility and witness sections of the 1908 and 1935 codes. ↩ ↩ ↩
4. Herr v. Johnson, 11 Colo. 393, 18 P. 342 (1888) (recognizing that civil law governed the territory until the legislature adopted the common law). ↩
5. The Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1908 (Denver: Smith-Brooks Printing Co., 1908), ch. 157, § 7112 ("Males of the age of twenty-one years and females of the age of eighteen years shall be considered of full age for all purposes; before those ages they shall be considered minors"); digital images, HathiTrust (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008966936 : accessed 23 July 2026). The section rests on the act of 1903, p. 487, § 48. The differing ages ended with the act approved 28 March 1919, amending R.S. 1908, § 7112 to read that in relation to property rights all persons of the age of twenty-one years are of full age, and that below that age they are minors for such purposes: Session Laws of Colorado, 1919, p. 406, § 1. That text was carried to 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated (Denver: Bradford-Robinson Printing Co., 1936–), ch. 176, § 82; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/1935coloradostat00colo : accessed 23 July 2026). The parallel will-making age (General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, § 3481) and marriage-consent age (General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2257) confirm the female-18 rule back to the territorial period. ↩ ↩
6. Sipes v. Sipes, 87 Colo. 301, 304, 287 P. 284 (1930); and, on necessaries, Perkins v. Westcoat, 3 Colo. App. 338, 341, 33 P. 139 (1893). ↩ ↩
7. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 97, § 226. ↩
8. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71 (Marriages), § 2247 (§ 1). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 452, § 1, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1735(1), p. 611, and appears later at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4162. ↩
9. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 56, § 33. ↩
10. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2257 (§ 6, "when parties under age—consent"). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 453, § 6, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1740(6), p. 612, and appears later at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4172, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, §§ 5–6. ↩ ↩
11. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, §§ 5–6. ↩
12. Session Laws of Colorado, 1945, p. 478. ↩
13. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 56, § 34. ↩
14. Klipfel's Estate v. Klipfel, 41 Colo. 40, 46, 92 P. 26 (1907); Clayton Coal Co. v. Industrial Commission, 93 Colo. 145, 25 P.2d 170 (1933), both resting on the civil-contract rule of General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2247 (Revised Statutes of 1908, § 4162); and see Taylor v. Taylor, 10 Colo. App. 303 (1897), and Graham v. Graham, 130 Colo. 225 (1954). ↩
15. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2248 (§ 2) (prohibited degrees); Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4163; 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, § 2; annulment for the same, 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 56, § 34. ↩
16. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2250 (§ 4) (marriage valid where contracted; no bigamy or polygamy); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, § 4. ↩ ↩
17. Session Laws of Colorado, 1939, p. 455. ↩
18. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2248 (§ 2), including the exception for "the people living in that portion of the State acquired from Mexico"; Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4163; carried to 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, § 2. ↩ ↩
19. The prohibition began with an 1864 territorial act and descends through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 452, § 2, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1736(2), pp. 611–12, and General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, § 2248 (as amended by the act of 1883, p. 243), to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4163, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 107, § 2; repealed by ch. 124, Session Laws of Colorado, 1957, p. 334. ↩
20. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 71, §§ 2251–2264 (the act of 4 February 1881, pp. 181–84); who may solemnize, § 2255 (§ 9); marriages by mining-district officers, justices, or clergy before 10 March 1864 confirmed, § 2265 (§ 19). ↩
21. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72 (Married Women), § 2266 (§ 1) (in force 1 July 1868). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 454, § 1, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1747(1), p. 614, and appears later at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 90, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, § 1. ↩
22. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, §§ 2267 (§ 2, personal property) and 2278 (the act of 1874, p. 185, real and personal property "as if she were sole"); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, § 10. ↩
23. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, § 2271 (§ 6); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, § 3. ↩
24. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, §§ 2268 (§ 3), 2279 (the act of 1881, p. 53); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, § 2; Code of Civil Procedure (1935), § 6. ↩
25. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, §§ 2277 (the act of 1872, p. 122), 2280 (the act of 1874, p. 185); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, §§ 9, 11. ↩
26. Williams v. Williams, 20 Colo. 51, 56, 37 P. 614 (1894); Hedlund v. Hedlund, 87 Colo. 607, 609, 290 P. 285 (1930); and, that either spouse may convey to the other, Wells v. Caywood, 3 Colo. 487, 494 (1877). ↩
27. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, § 2276 (§ 11) ("the separate deed of the husband shall convey no interest in the wife's lands"); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 108, § 8. ↩ ↩
28. Whyman v. Johnston, 62 Colo. 461, 463, 163 P. 76 (1917). ↩
29. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28 (Descents and Distributions), § 1039 (§ 1) ("Dower and the tenancy by courtesy are abolished, and neither husband nor wife shall have any share in the estate of the other, save as herein provided"). The section rests on the act of 1876, p. 65, § 1, amending the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 258, § 1; it passed through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 882(1), p. 344, and the act of 1903, p. 469, § 1, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7040, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 1. ↩
30. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 40, § 119 (homestead conveyance requires both spouses to join); homestead exemption, 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 93, §§ 23–27. ↩
31. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 40, § 111 (an instrument affecting title, once recorded in the office of the county clerk and recorder, is notice to all persons claiming an interest in the property; an unacknowledged or defectively acknowledged instrument that has remained of record ten years is deemed properly acknowledged), from the act of 1927, p. 589, § 5, as amended by the act of 1937, p. 481, § 3. The officers competent to take an acknowledgment, and whether subscribing witnesses were required, are not confirmed against the volume here — read the conveyancing chapter in the General Statutes of 1883 and chapter 40 of the 1935 code. ↩
32. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, § 1044 (§ 6) ("the alienage of the descendants shall not invalidate any title to real estate which shall descend"). The section descends from the act of 1861, p. 247, § 6, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 260, § 6, and the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 887(6), p. 345, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7045. ↩
33. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, art. IX; the Senate's deletion of art. X; confirmation through the Office of the Surveyor General for New Mexico (Act of 22 July 1854) and Congress. ↩
34. Tameling v. United States Freehold & Emigration Co., 93 U.S. 644 (1876); Act of 21 June 1860, ch. 167, 12 Stat. 71 (confirming the Sangre de Cristo Grant); digital images, Library of Congress (https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep093/usrep093644/usrep093644.pdf : accessed 23 July 2026). ↩
35. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, § 1039 (§ 1) (one-half to the surviving spouse and the residue to the children; the whole to the spouse where there are no children; otherwise to the father and mother, then to brothers and sisters and their descendants). The section rests on the act of 1876, p. 65, § 1, and passed through the act of 1903, p. 469, § 1, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7040, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 1. ↩
36. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, § 1046 (§ 8). The section descends from the act of 1861, p. 247, § 8, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 260, § 8, and the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 889(8), p. 346, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7047. ↩
37. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, §§ 1049–1050 (§§ 11–12) (the widow's specific-chattel allowance, with money or other property in place of articles not in the estate); still in force at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157 (allowance-of-claims article). The sections descend from the act of 1861, p. 248, §§ 11–12, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, pp. 260–61, and the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, §§ 892–893, pp. 346–47. ↩
38. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 211; and see Brimble v. Sickler, 83 Colo. 494 (1928), and Wilson v. Wilson, 55 Colo. 70 (1913) (allowance independent of the distributive share). ↩
39. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, § 2270 (§ 5) (widow's election where the husband's will leaves her less than half). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 455, § 5, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1751(5), p. 614, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7070, where it was combined with the will-capacity section. ↩
40. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 37. ↩
41. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 48 (Guardian and Ward), §§ 1585–1586 (§§ 1–2) (a fatherless minor over 14 chooses his guardian, subject to the court's approval; the court appoints for those under 14, or where a minor over 14 neglects to choose). The sections descend from the act of 1861, p. 344, §§ 1–2, and the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 346, §§ 1–2 (taken from the Illinois statute of 1845), through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, §§ 1303–1304, p. 489, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 60, §§ 2910–2911. ↩
42. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 48, § 1587 (§ 3); Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7113; carried to 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 83. ↩
43. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 48, § 1601 (testamentary guardian); Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 60, § 2912 (a married woman a joint guardian; the surviving parent may appoint a guardian of the person of a child under 21 by deed or will). The section descends from the act of 1861, p. 348, § 17, and the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 350, § 17, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1319, and General Statutes of 1883, § 1601 (amended by the act of 1895, p. 186), to Revised Statutes of 1908, § 2912, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 76, § 3. ↩
44. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, § 1045 (§ 7) ("Illegitimate children shall inherit the same as those born in wedlock, if the parents subsequently intermarry, and such children be recognized after such intermarriage by the father to be his"); the act of 1903 added that such a child inherits from the mother the same as a child born in wedlock. The section descends from the act of 1861, p. 247, § 7, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 260, § 7, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 888(7), p. 346, and the act of 1903, p. 471, § 7, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7046. ↩ ↩
45. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 28, § 1048 (§ 10) (estate of an illegitimate decedent; the mother takes one-half, her children and their descendants the other half, failing a spouse and issue). The section descends from the act of 1861, pp. 247–48, § 10, through the act of 1903, p. 472, § 10, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7049, and 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 11. ↩
46. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 20, §§ 1–6 (complaint by the mother before the child is twelve months old; support for a term not exceeding 18 years). ↩
47. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 83, § 1 (non-support of an illegitimate child under 16); and see Wamsley v. People, 64 Colo. 521, 173 P. 425 (1918). ↩
48. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115 (Wills), § 3481 (§ 1) ("every person aged twenty-one years, if a male, or eighteen years, if a female and not married" may devise lands; "all persons of the age of seventeen years" may dispose of personal estate). The section descends from the act of 1861, p. 398, § 1, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 642, § 1, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 2788(1), p. 929, and the act of 1903, p. 472, § 12, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7070. ↩ ↩
49. Session Laws of Colorado, 1947, p. 947 (any person of sound mind aged 18 may dispose of an estate of every kind). ↩
50. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, §§ 3513–3514 (§§ 33–34) (a named executor under 17, of unsound mind, an infamous convict — or, before 1903, a married woman whose husband would not join her bond — is passed over; administration with the will annexed goes to the widow or next of kin, then a principal creditor, then another suitable person); the act of 1903 dropped the married-woman disqualification and added habitual drunkenness and general unfitness. The sections descend from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, pp. 650–51, §§ 33–34, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, §§ 2820–2821, pp. 939–40, and the act of 1903, p. 486, § 47, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7111. ↩
51. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, § 3524; Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7105 (husband or widow preferred; a creditor may apply after 20 days); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 176, § 74. ↩
52. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, § 3482 (§ 2) (a will of land in writing, signed by the testator or by another at his direction, attested by two or more credible witnesses); the act of 1903 extended the writing-and-two-witness requirement to wills of every kind. The section derives from the Illinois Revised Statutes of 1845, § 2, p. 536, and descends from the act of 1861, p. 398, § 2, through the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 642, § 2, the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 2789(2), p. 929, and the act of 1903, p. 473, § 13, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7071; and see In re McGary's Estate, 127 Colo. 495 (1953). ↩
53. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, § 3485 (§ 5) (a devise or bequest to a subscribing witness void unless the will is otherwise duly attested, with a saving for a witness who would have been an heir). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 643, § 5, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 2792(5), p. 930, and the act of 1903, p. 473, § 16, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7074. ↩
54. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 72, § 2269 (§ 4) (a married woman may make a will but may not bequeath away from her husband more than half without his written consent). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, p. 455, § 4, through the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1750(4), p. 614, to Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7070, where the act of 1903 merged the restriction into the will-capacity section. ↩
55. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 115, § 3483 (§ 3) (nuncupative will valid for personal estate only). The section descends from the Revised Statutes of Colorado, 1868, pp. 642–43, § 3, and the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 2790(3), p. 929. The wills act of 1903 required every will to be in writing and attested by two witnesses: act of 1903, p. 473, § 13; Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 157, § 7071. ↩
56. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 94 (Revenue), §§ 2814–2815 (all property not exempt is taxable; exemptions for public property, churches, schools, charities, cemeteries, irrigation works, and — for ten years after 1876 — mines and the value added by orchards and trees). The sections descend from the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, §§ 2243–2244, p. 742, and appear later at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 122. ↩ ↩
57. Colorado constitutional amendment of 1936 (Session Laws of Colorado, 1937, p. 675); income-tax act, Session Laws of Colorado, 1937. ↩
58. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 94, § 2813 (§ 2) ("A poll tax shall be assessed on every able-bodied male inhabitant of the State, over the age of twenty-one and under fifty years, whether a citizen of the United States or an alien"); a road poll tax up to one dollar, § 2816 (§ 5); and a one-dollar military poll tax on male inhabitants over 21, Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89 (militia article), § 4457. The section descends from the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 2241(2), p. 741. ↩
59. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 61 (Jurors), § 1899 (working firemen exempt from jury duty and from the poll tax); Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 89, § 4458 (exemptions from the military poll tax). ↩
60. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 61, § 1891 (§ 1) ("All male inhabitants of the State of the age of twenty-one years, who are citizens of the United States or have declared their intention to become such citizens, and who have not been convicted of felony"). The section descends from the General Laws of Colorado, 1877, § 1460(1), p. 538, and appears later at Revised Statutes of 1908, ch. 77, § 3668. ↩
61. General Statutes of 1883, ch. 61, § 1898 (§ 8) (officers, attorneys, and persons 60 or over may be excused on request); §§ 1899, 1901 (firemen and national guard exempt). ↩
62. Colorado Constitution, art. II, § 23, as amended (adopted 1944); Session Laws of Colorado, 1945, pp. 424, 426. ↩
63. Juvenile court created by the act of 1903, giving the court its own name, docket, and records; the compiled acts are printed in Benjamin B. Lindsey, comp., The Juvenile Court Laws of the State of Colorado (1905); digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/juvenilecourtla00denvgoog : accessed 23 July 2026). ↩
64. Act of 1907 establishing juvenile courts in counties of more than 100,000 (jurisdiction over children under 16); jurisdiction extended to children under 21 by the act of 1923. ↩
65. 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 177, § 9 (spousal competency and marital communications); 1935 Colorado Statutes Annotated, ch. 83, § 5 (the wife a competent witness against the husband under the non-support statutes). ↩ ↩