Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-15
OUR DEFECTIVE MARRIAGE Law.

Views OF Q Prominent Minister-The
Need Of Legislation by Congress.
The ministers in this city have Of late de-
voted good deal Of attention TO the
question of marriage licenses in the
District and Of the marriage Law in
general a. il holds here. The question
OF its defects 10 by no means q new one, but
was brought prominently forward at the recent
meeting of the Pastors Alliance. At that
meeting acommittee was appointed, with Rev.
DR.. John II. Elliott OF Ascension Church as
chairman, to examine into the matter and to
draw up new and more satisfactory law to be
presented to Congress at an early date.
THE WHOLE SYSTEM UNSETTLED AND UNsArIsFAo-
TORY
In speaking of the matter today prominent
minister Of the city said to STAR reporter:
THE whole system Of issuing marriage
licenses in the District is in a most unsettled
and unsatisfactory condition. ANY one with q
dollar in his pocket can procure a license. Now,
the main object OF licensing Is to furnish q
record OF marriages, but as it lsnow it makes
10 record at ali, Tor u license is no evidence of
marriage, for the young woman in question
may back out or any one OF number of cir
cumssances might prevent the marriage from
taking place. The license is no record until it
has been filed ont by the officiating minister
and returned to the clerk Of the court
NO PENALTY IMPOSED.
"But, he continued, there is no penalty
FOR failure to return q notice of the marriage
and as matter of fact the::greatest looseness
exists at this point. Ministers must make re-
surns to the registrar of the health Office, and
there is proper penalty for failure to do So.
put this penalty 10 rarely imposed. In fact.
listers who do not know that this is
required OF them, and penalties amounting
TO thousands of dollars have accumulated
against them, il the registrar did but know it.
ms record OF the registrar is only for the sake
OF making statistics and don't think would be
legal proof Of "a marriage. As things now are
the only proof OF most of the marriages is to be
found in church records, and any one who
knows how church records are usually kept will
understand how uncertain they are.
ANOTHER DEFECT.
another trouble is that the licenses bid any
properly ordained minister to marry the couple
providing he finds 40 legal impedimcnt to tho
marriage. This is wrong for it casts the bur-
den Of responsibility upon the minister, who
is not legal officer. cannot administer an oath
and has no way of finding whether there is any
impeachment. Ii there is the couple are sure to
lie to him and he is none the wiser. All legal
questions ought to be settled before the license
is issued.
MINISTERIAL sHYsTERS.
"There ought to be kept a register Of minis
tiers who are legally entitled to perform the
marriage ceremony, just as a register Of physi-
clans is kept. This would avoid all danger Of
ministerial shysters. There are o number of
such in this city. and besides there are a num-
Der OF clerks in the departments who have
been regularly practicing ministers at one time,
and the question at once arises rs to their pres
ent right to perform ministerial duties. You
zee there are any number Of sources from
which legal trouble might arise.
AZ TO THE NEW LAW.
'In the new law there ought to be embodied
system Of single registration. The license
should be furnished with proper blanks to be
filed out and returned to the clerk of the
court by the minister, and an adequate penalty
should be imposed for failure on their part to
make such returns. This should constitute q
legal record and the registrar of the health
office might get his statistics from it.
THE present marriage laws are in chaotic
state. They are both uncertain and made
quate. Every minister should understand the
marriage law and yet doubt il any two law
yers can agree upon it. Whom may a minister
legally unite in marriage? am sure do not
know. For instance, in the matter of age the
old Maryland statute holds that the man must
be twenty-one years OF age and the woman six
teen. But does that statute still hold? never
marry girls under eighteen and yet doubt if
could be prosecuted for tying the knot around
a girl Of sixteen.
MAY MAN MARRY HIS GRANDMOTHER?
"a man may not marry his grandmother" he
continued. "but his deceased wifes sister is an
eligible party. So the Maryland statute holds,
for it holds to the canonical and prayer book
lists Of forbidden relatives, with the exception
of the sister-in-law. But these lists are 20
extensive and take in SO many relatives
that il the statute holds in its entirety
cases Of illegal marriages occur with alarm
ing regularity. But il the law does not hold
good in full it cannot hold in part, and man
may marry his grandmother and incest is legal
So far as / know these statutes have never been
repealed nor superseded.
MIXED MARRIAGES.
According to these statutes mixed marriages
are forbidden, and yet two cases Of mis- cegena
ton were reported last year and no one knows
how many more may have occurred. There
are many other doubtful features about tho
laws as they are now understood, and think
every ono will agree that in SO important q
matter as this everything should be plain sail
ing and that lawyers and ministers should
know what ia and what ia not legal -