228 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



such consent, shall forfeit to the State one hundred dollars ; and any 

 person who shall join any persons in marriage without having received 

 such certificate shall forfeit a like sum of one hundred dollars. Every 

 person who shall join any persons in marriage shall certify upon the 

 license certificate the fact, time, and place of such marriage, and return 

 it to the register of the town where it was issued, hefore or during the 

 first week of the month next succeeding such marriage, and upon fail- 

 ure thereof shall forfeit ten dollars. The certificate shall be prima 

 facie evidence of such marriage. All judges, justices of the peace, 

 and ordained or licensed clergymen while in the ministry, may join 

 persons in marriage, and all marriages attempted to be celebrated by 

 any other person shall be void ; but all marriages which shall be 

 solemnized according to the forms and usages of any religious de- 

 nomination in the State shall be valid. 



While the laws of these three States differ and, perhaps, no two 

 States in the Union agree as to who are competent to contract mar- 

 riage the provisions of the statutes of each regulating its solemniza- 

 tion would seem to be sufficient to protect society against hasty and 

 indiscriminate alliances, to guard either party against fraud, and to 

 furnish record evidence in any case where proof of marriage might be 

 required. And yet, upon the provisions of the statutes defining who 

 may solemnize marriages, the greatest confusion prevails throughout 

 the Union between the courts and the law. In Connecticut, we have 

 seen that "all marriages attempted to be celebrated by any other 

 person " (than those named) " shall be void." In Ohio and New York, 

 and in many other States, where no words of nullity are expressed in 

 the statutes, such marriages are held valid. 



But in Massachusetts, and in several other States, it has been held, 

 where no words of nullity are expressed, that such marriages are not 

 valid. And yet, it is generally accepted as the law, on principle, not- 

 withstanding the marriage is celebrated without license, and the cere- 

 mony performed by an unauthorized person, that if the parties simply 

 by mutual consent agree to marry, and live together as man and wife, 

 such consent and cohabitation are valid and binding between the par- 

 ties, and the issue thereof are entitled to all the rights of legitimate 

 children. To reverse this common-law doctrine by general statutory 

 provisions might work hardship in some individual cases ; but its exist- 

 ence works more harm to society and bastardizes more children than 

 would the enactment of stringent marriage laws, for parties would 

 then be more careful and not enter into such relation without proof of 

 marriage. Marriage is not a contract to be entered into in haste and 

 repented of at leisure. It is of more importance to the parties, and 

 far more to society, than the acquirement of a good title to a piece of 

 real estate. Yet no one would think it a hardship to comply with the 

 law for the proper execution and registration of a deed of conveyance, 

 and no court would hold, as a general rule, that a valid title passed, 



