Washington Law Review Volume 48 Number 3 5-1-1973 Equality for Spouses in Washington Community Property Law—1972 Statutory Changes Harry M. Cross University of Washington School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr Digital Par t of the Family Law Commons Commons Network Recommended Citation Logo Harry M. Cross, Equality for Spouses in Washington Community Property Law—1972 Statutory Changes, 48 Wash. L. Rev. 527 (1973). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol48/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at UW Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington Law Review by an authorized editor of UW Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WASHINGTON LAW REVIEW Volume 48, Number 3, 1973 ARTICLES EQUALITY FOR SPOUSES IN WASHINGTON COMMUNITY PROPERTY LAW-1972 STATUTORY CHANGES Harry M. Cross* INTRODUCTION The past two decades have witnessed an expanded drive for equal treatment before the law.' Although courts, using the fourteenth amendments equal protection hammer, have built coffins for discrimi- nation based on race, lineage, and financial status, centuries-old dis- crimination based on sex largely has avoided legal interment.2 How- ever, the need for change recently has been recognized by both the * Professor of Law, University of Washington; B.A., Washington State University, 1936; J.D., University of Washington, 1940. The authorwishes to express his appreciation to Harvey H. Chamberlin, third year law student, University of Washington; B.A., 1970, University of Washington; who col- laborated in the writing of this article' 1.