The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-22
MARRIAGE LICBNSBS.
The New Law Which Will
Soon Become Operative
IN WillfPrevent Scandals.

4 For the past ten years New Jersey has
|ebeeh the most famous Gretna Green in the
country. 1t was found that it was easier to
get married in this State thar any other,
and particularly since Pennsylvania put a
check on indiscriminate marriages by pass
ing its marriage law, but New Jersey viii be
a Gretna Green no longer. : The Marriage
License bill has passed both Houses, and
will be signed by the Governor, Ii not al
ready signed. For the past four years diff
ferent As~selnblytnen coming from Camden
have attempted to pass a marriage license
law to check the scandals that were growing
out of the reckless way that both officials
and clergyrnen were marrying lily assorted
couples in Camden.
William j. Thompson, the millionaire
owner Of the Gloucester racetrack, not hav
ing any particular legislation to look after
this year, concluded that he would attempt
to do what SO many men found SO impossible.
Heretofore the greatest opposition to q mar
riage license bill came from the
~clergymen, and there was some oo-
position from that source this
year, but tho recent ~aenunciation Of Jerseys
free and easy marriage law, made hya Phila-
delphia judge, had some effect in tempering
their opposition, and, in consequence, 1homp-
sons bill has been amended so that license
shall only be required byipersons who are
non-residents of the State. The provisions
of the act are many, The first section re-
quires that no marriage shall DO solemnized
or contracted between persons either or both
of whom are nop-residen6s OF this State until
a license shall have been obtained from the
County Clerk of the county where the mar
riage is performed.
THE CERTIFICATES.
1t then prescribes tho form of the mar
riage. The certificate marked original shall
NV tho roor-cp, cCIan1nizinr tho mr. uo M
given to tho persons married, and the certif-
cate marked duplicate shall be returned to
the clerk of the county. In cases whore
people enter into compact or are married by
the tenets or customs of any religious So
ciety, no marriage can take place until a GER
tiicate of declaration is obtained from the
County Clerk, which shall read as foIlows:-
Legal evidence having been furnished to me in ac-
cord1nce with the act OF the Assembly, approved
the the d fy,s ef ce,tlass one nat thousand fassa / e, aga ,a hundred red
pedimeat to your toining yourselves in mar iage-
A return must. also be made to that form
of civil contract in this form
We herehf certify theie+@ day OF - one thou
II frs @e ebssised from th e e 20 feaa clgra 6 q said e eoanly
a declaration that he w1sssatished that there was no
existing impediments to cur SO doing. -
SvtThe bill, ALSO requires that when Athe
County Clerk Is issuing licenses he shall in
quire Of the parties applyings either sspar-
ately or together, on their oath or afirma-
ton, relative to the legality Of their con-
legal objections shall grant the license,
or If theu County sfClerk be too far
removed from their residence they
can go before any Judge of the Court Of
Common Pleas, Master in Chancery, notary
public, magistrate or Justice Of the peace In
the township, ward or county where the
marriage is intended to be solemnized, to
~; .ro 4actir,1Ny1Vy a G IN tho 1orolf%r IF +ho,r
Contemplated marriage, and such officer
being satisfied can forward their affidavit to
the County Clerk, who will issue the license
and forward to the contracting parties. Any
person intending to marry under twenty
one years of age must get the consent of
parents or guardian, attested to by two
adult witnesses before a Master In Chancery
OF notary.
The penalty for any minister or legal
officer solemnizing the marriage ceremony
without the license is O. fine of $500, for the
use of the county in which the marriage was
solemnized, n 1t can be recovered as an
action of debt.
On the first of the month the County
Clerk must send full returns OF marriage
licenses issued and all the facts contained in
the documents to the Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics at Trenton.
This new lawwiA make a material change
N bne marriage report iToLH CalHdon ana
Warren county. Phillipsburg is. a little
Gretna Green, where people wander over
from Pennsylvania TO get married without a
I license, but in Camden the nonresident mar
riages lave been running very high. Last
year the vital statistics showed that there
were II, 178 people married in the State, and
IA, 100 married people in Camden alone. The
hCamden marriages nave been running be-
tween 1900 and 5000 for the past seven
t9years. It proves that about the same per-
eentage Of Philadelphia people every year
dodge the license clerk and cross over the
|eDelaware River. In 1886 there were only
1900 in New Jersey, and 2,799 of these
were before the Camden marriage scheme
became known. The newspapers helped it
along, and In 1887 the jump was made to
making the State total 16,025. In 1889 the
Camden marriages numbered 4.655. In the
c4o+a tx 5sd. 1900 A 1os a. kha c+ato 1G 400