The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-03-05
THE LAW OF FRANCE
CONCERNING THE VALIDITY OF MAR
RACES IN THIS COUNTRY.
Cases Where Those Contracted ian ths
United states Become Invaiid--
An Evident Need Of Iegisla-
tion-A Serious Question.


| desire TO cali the attention Of the de-
paT,ment to this SUE Get III the hope thak
some way may be found TO prevent citizens
of the niteC states marrying rench Citl-
Zens from being unwlttingiy eatrapped
uhat Is the right WORT INTO making
marriage waich is good enough in the
United - ates or where ii may be made,
but i Is a mock marriage in rance
1t seems to me this matter calls for the
intervention of the go ernment for o
government can have no higher duty 10
Its citizens than 10 throw such protection
around them as that they may not he
thus entg&Dped. or, if they will marry
that it will not be done in the belief that
the marriage, because valid according to
the laws of his or her own Countrywide
United States where it is performed-is
therefore valid in France, the country of
which the other party is citizen.
That these things occur, and arc pro-
ductive of great misery 10 American citi-
zens who are in condition least able TO
bear it. is, alas, too manifest in the mum
Der of American and English women who
are in France, the cast Oft and discharged
wives of Frenchmen. | do but state fact
well known, except apparently TO those
girls (and their parents and guardians
who are about TO marry Frenchmen, and
the minister of the Gospel authorized TO
marry them.
FRENCH CUSTOMS.
The customs and law of France, and it's
conservatism concerning the "etat civil"
of its citizens, the necessity for publicity
of the marriage, and the opportunity re
quirGd to prevent it, if illegal, together
with the recognized authority of the
parent over the family, are too strong to
be overborne and set aside in order TO do
justice TO those foreigners who may have
put their foot in it by marrying trench
citizens in another country.
Another reason exists why no such ar
rangement can ever be made with france.
Frenchmeu as well as some others, are
shocked at the rapidity and rippancy. not
to mention the Clandestinity, with which
marriages are not infrequently contracted
in the United States. They do not be-
lieve they are OF ought 10 be valid
A Candestine acquaintance or court
ship, ending in runaway match insug-
urated with a ladder and a lantern, q
midnight flight a hurried marriage en-
deshabille, aud furious father arriving a
few minutes too late-to call this valid
marriage may do in the United States.
but TO ask the law of France TO acknowl.
edge il would be to ask impossibilities
it would be regarded as but youthful
esCapade. not serious matter; one to be
overlooked and excused, and the youth 8
family would justify and protect him
when. after having sown his wild oats,
got tired of earning husks in foreign
land. he returns to his home TO take his
proper place among them.
FAMILY vs.. INDIVIDUAL.
The objects of the institution of marriage
are so diaeyent in the two countries that
their different customs can not be recon-
cled.
In France the patriarchal theory pre-
val to Il great extent. aud the family
more than the individual is the unit
| Family councils are recognized by law
which have and exercise rs complete iur-
| isdiCtiOn over the movements and fate of
! individuals as ever did court of chan
| Cere. Accordingly the prime oh ect of
| marriage after french ideas and customs
! is the foundation of family. The hap
/ piness Of the contracting parties or their
| love for each other, is q secondary con-
sideration The arrangements of a mar.
! rage are made and its suitability decreed
| by the heads Of the two respective fam
lies
In the United States the man and
/ woman to DC married sTe considered as
/ the parties most interested, and SO they
/ make The arrangements. In rance the
+ parents consider themselves most inter
csted. and so tGey make the arrangements
/ IN s ia TIE custom Of the country, ana
. every ore yields o it French woman
with q husband and "a child, separated
/ from each OiHCr ana bDth SICK, WOulC
| leave her husband and fy &c her child
/ The husband ana wife in their relation t
each other axe regarded in public estima
ton as only secondary and incidental I,
the primary and main Oh oCt-the family
In France men over 2 years Of age ant
women over ? may marty without th
consent Of their parents. b : IT can onll
be after making three actes respectueux-
tIar IS petitions in formal and respectful
language. aGdressedtO the parents. solicit
ing heir consent. with an interval of on
month between each.
ENGuAN4's A. ECsUTIOEs.
The same trouble exists in France p
respects marriages made in England, an,
the English government has taken som
cps 10 protect las sub ecis by first pro
viding for "a certificate of the French con
SUI, as agreed on between the two govern
ments. and notified to the ccnsuls by eli
Cu.ar from the French government of Dec
D, 1884, that the formalities Of the Frenc
. law have been complied with by th
French citizen; and. second, warning a
registrars throughout the kingdom not {
celebrate any marriage to which a Erenc
citizen is a party without the productio
Of this certificate.