Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-05-11
INTERNATIONAL MARRIAGES.
SOME OF THE DANGERS AND Diff
CULTIEs IN THEM.
The Legal situation IL Perriesins-Th
Nuptiai Knot Tied Mt Legations Apt
to lie Defectiye-A Case
In Point.


American girls ought TO be warned
that they run a good many chances
when they marry foreigners.
Marriages that are considered perfect-
ly good here may be upset abroad and
declared invalid on all sorts of grounds.
If Count de Castellane had welded Miss
Anna Gould without previously obtain
ing the consent of his father the union
would not hold good in French law.
Similar restrictions would follow the
citizens of certain other countries wher-
ever they go. Bavaria and Wurtemburg
have gone SO far as TO forbid their sub
iects to marry abroad without consent
by the home government. An old En-
gllsh law declared that no descendant
Of George III. should be permitted to
marry at all without having obtained
the approval of the reigning sovereign.
This regulation. which now covers
great number OF persons, still holds In
Great Britain, though 1t has been
evaded in a number of instances by
such descendants who have had the GER
emony performed on the Continent.
Laws Of like nature are in force in sew
eral of the states of Germany.
There is little or no trouble when an
American girl marries an Englishman.
The ceremony,if performed in this coun-
try according to local law, is, as rule.
valid in England, and the converse of
this proposition also applies. So MISS
Letter is all right in any event. But,
supposing such calamity as the death
of Mrs. Curzon. her husband, even If he
should so desire could not come to
America and wed her sister. At all
events, such union, though standing
good here. would not be valid in Great
Britain. where brothers-in-law and sis
ters-in-law are forbidden TO marry each
other. The same law governs in Ger
many. The general principle Is that no
person shall be allowed to evade the
matrimonial regulations of his own
country by going somewhere else to be
married.
The whole question of international
marriages is complicated by differences
in the codes of nations relating to
morality. In England a union between
brother-inlaw and slster-in-law is re-
garded from the legal point of view as
incestuous, while in America it is quite
otherwise. In many countries of Eu-
rope marriages of ecclesiastics are pro-
hibited, whereas here they are perfectly
good, no matter whether the ceremony
has been performed in this country or
abroad. Marriages between Christians
and Jews are valid in the United states,
but not so in Austria and Hungary.
Until recently similar interdiction pre-
vailed in Prussia. The laws of the
United States would only recognize one
of the plural wives of poygamic China
men or East Indians.
Americans are frequently married at
legations of the United States in various
countries abroad. II is a highly objec-
tionable practice, and our government
disapproves of it. The notion at the
bottom of it is to the effect that an
American legation is American soil and
that on such soil marriages conducted
in accordance with United States laws
are good. There is just enough truth in
this idea to lead people into mischief
1t is true that a United States legation
is a bit of United States soil, but that
proposition does not affect the fact that
a marriage in any civilized country, in
order to be valid, must be in accord
ance with the laws of that country. In
an uncivilized country 1t is different.
There the only laws to be considered
are those of the country where the con-
tracing parties claim citizenship.
Great Britain does recognize mar
riagcs of her citizens performed at her
legations abroad. But here the case is
somewhat different The Church of En-
gland is a recognized part of the state
and is represented at every legation by
a chaplain, who is a public official in
sense. He acts as an agent of the gov
ernment in performing such ceremon-
les. But even marriages thus accom-
plshed are admitted TO be not neces-
sarily valid in other countries, though
all right in Great Britain. Obviously 1t
is hardly possible to make such matters
too sure Under date of August 81, 1874
Mr. Hoffman, secretary of our legation
at Paris, wrote to the department of
state at Washington, saying that dur
ing the previous seven years 100 mar
riages of Americans had taken place at
the legation-a greater number proba-
bly, than in all other legations of the
United States during the same period.
He remarked that, inasmuch as these
marriages had not complied with the
laws of France, there was serious dan
ger that their legality might be dis
puted.
Massachusetts has declared that mar
riages of her citizens at our legations in
foreign parts are good, but she cannot
make them valid in France. 1t goes
without saying that a married woman
ought to be a wife in all countries.
Congress has made a declaration SINH
lar to that of Massachusetts just
quoted; hut il can only be held TO apply
TO citizens of the District of Columbia
and the territories We have no nation
al marriage law, and the regulations of
each state of the Union respecting mar
riage and divorce are supreme so far as
its own citizens are concerned.
Not long ago the department of state
issued circular to our diplomatic and
consular representatives abroad, eX-
pressing disapproval of the practice,
commonly observed by such officials, of
giving to parties wishing 10 be married
certificates to the effect that there was
with United States laws governing mat
rimony. To grant such certificates was
obviously an absurdity, inasmuch as
they must, necessarily, be based on
hearsay. Furthermore, the marriage
laws of the United States differed so
much that no reliable summary could be
made of them, In most of the states, IL
was added, these laws We're undergoing
frequent alteration. Thus, a marriage
performed abroad on certificate of this
kind might be upset, making the chill
dren illegitimate. AS a matter OF fact,
the certificate of a minister or consul is
practically worthless, though the record
of such an officer may serve as evidence
that the ceremony was performed. 1t
does not give the ceremony any stand
ing in law.
American citizens who get married
ceremony, but they must obey the civil
requirements of the country. In France
ana Germany, as well as in Italy,
civil ceremony Is absolutely necessary.
This law was adopted In Germany as a
result of a struggle between the empire
and the papacy-naturally not without
vehement opposition by the ecclesas-
tics. In France, publication and the
consent of the father are necessary,
with other formalities. If the father is
dead, the grandfather must grant his
approval. In Germany the consent of
the father must be had unless the in
tending bridegroom is over 25 years of
age, or the bride over "a. In France
consent is demanded uD To the age of 70