(3204.) SECTION 1. Every male who shall have attained the who shall be ca full age of eighteen years, and every female who shall have ing Marriage. pable of contract (a) For prior Statutes relative to the solemnization of Marriage, see Woodward Code, p. 42; Cass Code, p. 111; Code of 1820, p. 259; Rev. of 1827, p. 280; Laws of 1832, p. 6; Rev. cf 1833, p. 329; R. S. of 1838, p. 333. Marriage is a civil contract. attained the full age of sixteen years, shall be capable in law of contracting marriage, if otherwise competent. (3205.) SEC. 2. Marriage, so far as its validity in law is 1 Ind. Rep., 390. concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of parties capable in law of contracting, is essential. 4 Comstock, 230. Who shall not intermarry. (3206.) SEC. 3. No man shall marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, stepmother, grandfather's wife, son's wife, grandson's wife, wife's mother, wife's grandmother, wife's daughter, wife's granddaughter, nor his sister, brother's daughter, sister's daughter, father's sister, or mother's sister. (3207.) SEC. 4. No woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, grandson, stepfather, grandmother's husband, daughter's husband, granddaughter's husband, husband's father, husband's grandfather, husband's son, husband's grandson, nor her brother, brother's son, sister's son, father's brother, or mother's brother. (3208.) SEC. 5. No marriage shall be contracted whilst either of the parties has a former wife or husband living, unless the marriage with such former wife or husband shall have been dissolved. (3209.) SEC. 6. No white person shall intermarry with a negro, and no insane person or idiot shall be capable of contracting marriage. (3210.) SEC. 7. Marriages may be solemnized by any Justice of the Peace in the county in which he is chosen; and they may be solemnized throughout the State by any minister of the gospel, who has been ordained according to the usages of his denomination, and who resides in this State, and continues to be a preacher of the gospel. (b) (3211.) SEC. 8. All Justices of the Peace and ministers of the gospel are hereby authorized and required, before solemnizing any marriage,to examine at least one of the parties on oath, which oath they are hereby authorized to administer, as to the legality of such intended marriage. (3212.) SEC. 9. In the solemnization of marriage, no particular form shall be required, except that the parties shall solemnly declare, in the presence of the Magistrate or minister, and the attending witnesses, that they take each other as husband and wife; and in every case, there shall be (b) The Mayor of Flint is also authorized to solemnize the Marriage Ceremony. Laws of 1857, p. 36, Sec. 3. at least two witnesses, besides the minister or Magistrate, present at the ceremony. Marriage. (3213.) SEC. 10. Whenever a marriage shall have been Certificate of solemnized pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the minister or Magistrate who solemnized the same shall give to each of the parties, on request, a certificate under his hand, specifying the names, ages and places of residence of the parties married, the names and residence of at least two witnesses who were present at such marriage, and the time and place of such marriage. and certificate County Clerk. (3214.) SEC. 11. Every Justice and minister shall keep a Record to be kept record of the marriages solemnized before him, and within delivered to three months after the solemnization of any marriage, shall make and deliver to the Clerk of the county in which the marriage took place, a certificate under his hand, containing the particulars mentioned in the preceding section. (3215.) SEC. 12. All such certificates shall be recorded by clerk to record the County Clerk in a book to be kept by him for that purpose; fee. and for recording the same, the clerk shall receive a fee of twenty-five cents from such minister or Justice, who shall also be entitled to receive the same from the parties, before the marriage. certificate; hie glect. (3216.) SEC. 13. Every Justice and minister who shall Forfeiture for neneglect to make and deliver to the clerk such certificate of marriage, shall forfeit for each neglect a sum not less than twenty, nor more than one hundred dollars; and every clerk who shall neglect to record such certificate, shall forfeit the like penalty. joining persons in trary to law. (3217.) SEC. 14. If any Justice of the Peace or minister of Forfeiture for the gospel shall join any persons in marriage contrary to the Marriage, conprovisions of this chapter, he shall forfeit for every such offence a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. persons unau. (3218.) SEC. 15. If any person shall undertake to join others Punishment of in marriage, knowing that he is not lawfully authorized so to thorized, etc. do, or knowing of any legal impediment to the proposed marriage, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than one year, or by a fine not less 13 Pick., 111. than fifty, nor more than five hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court. in certain cases. (3219.) SEC. 16. No marriage solemnized before any person Marriage not void professing to be a Justice of the Peace, or a minister of the gospel, shall be deemed or adjudged to be void, nor shall the 48. validity thereof be in any way affected, on account of any want of jurisdiction or authority in such supposed Justice or minister: Provided, the marriage be consummated with a full Greenl., 148. belief on the part of the persons so married, or either of them, that they have been lawfully joined in marriage. 7 Mass., (3220.) SEC. 17. The preceding provisions of this chapter, so far as they relate to the manner of solemnizing marriages, shall not affect marriages among the people called Friends or Quakers; nor marriages among people of any other particular denomination, having, as such, any peculiar mode of solemnizing marriages; but such marriages may be solemnized in the manner heretofore used and practiced in their respective societies or denominations. (3221.) SEC. 18. The original certificates and records of marriage made by the minister or Justice, as prescribed in this chapter, and the record thereof made by the County Clerk, or a copy of such record, duly certified by such clerk, shall be received in all Courts and places as presumptive evidence of the fact of such marriage. void, without decree of Divorce. (3222.) SECTION 1. All marriages which are prohibited by what Marriages law, on account of consanguity or affinity between the parties, or on account of either of them having a former wife or husband then living; all marriages solemnized when either of the parties was insane or an idiot, and all marriages between 12 Mass., 363. a white person and a negro, shall, if solemnized within this 5 Ohio, 539. State, be absolutely void, without any decree of divorce or other legal process. (3223.) SEC. 2. In case of a marriage solemnized when either Ibid. of the parties was under the age of legal consent, if they shall separate during such non-age, and not cohabit together afterwards, or in case the consent of one of the parties was obtained by force or fraud, and there shall have been no subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties, the marriage shall be deemed void without any decree of divorce or other legal process. brought to annul (3224.) SEC. 3. When a marriage is supposed to be void, or suit may be the validity thereof is doubted, for any of the causes mentioned void Marriage. in the two preceding sections, either party, excepting in cases where a contrary provision is hereinafter made, may file a petition or bill in the Circuit Court of the county where the parties, or one of them, reside, or in the Court of Chancery, for annulling the same, and such petition or bill shall be filed, and proceedings shall be had thereon, as in the case of a 1 Edwards, 40. petition or bill filed in said Court for a divorce; and upon due proof of the nullity of the marriage, it shall be declared void by a decree or sentence of nullity. (3225.) Sec. 4. When the validity of any marriage shall be suit to affirm denied or doubted by either of the parties, the other party Marriage. |