The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-05-21

BEFORE MARRIAGE IN FRANCE.
Formalities That Must Be Gone Through
Before the MayOr Ties the Knot


Formalities That Must Be Gone Through
Before the Mayor Ties the Knot.
In the eyes of the French law marrl
age is entirely civil contract. 1t does
not recognize O marriage celebrated in
church or other place of worship
nor will any priest or clergyman off,
ciate until a certificate of the civil UNI
ion has been presented to him.
| myself have recently undergone
the painful operation of being married
in France by this civil process and 1t
has seemed to me that, instead of be-
nevolently assisting to crown the hap
piness of loving couples, the law places
every possible barrier to keep them
apart The plain narrative of my own
experiences may be found of interest.
My wife is a Frenchwoman, an orphan
and 25 years of age the only near rela-
ton that she has living being her mat
ternal grandmother ] myself am a
British subject of full age, resident of
in France; and had we both been
British subjects we could have dispen-
sed with the fornalities of French law
and been married without trouble be-
fore the British CONSUL.
The first step l took was to go to
the Marie or Town Hail. of the dis
trict in which / lived. and interview the
functionary who was in charge of the
Bureau DIES marriages" This otti
cial was an asthmatical old gentleman
with a troublesome cough, who was
none too gracious in regard to
my suggestion that | wanted to get
married. He glared at me through his
glasses as though / were a criminal
upon whom he was about to pass judg-
ment or at the very least an applicant
for parish relief He condescended to
inform me that, although, was 20
years of age, he should require the con-
sent In writing to the marriage of both
my parents, as well as that of the par
| ents of my fiancee, before even the
| banns could be published. But" I OBJ
| jected" / am British subject, and
my fiancee is an orphan, and of full
age"
"Then you will be dispensed from OBJ
| tanning the consent of your parents II
you can get your CONSUL to give you
a certificate stating that, as British
subject, 1t will not be necessary for you
according to the laws of your country,
to obtain the consent of your parents
| to your marriage. AS for mademois6lle,
your fiancee, she being an orphan, we
shall require the certificate of decease
of both her parents and the consent in
writing of her grand parents IL liv-
| ing"
hn~ 70 "a al ,e,tN isln nd fn1
the old gentleman that, with the excep-
ton of her maternal grandmother, all
her grandparents were dead. I'm that
case" said the old gentleman, IT shall
! also require copies of their certificates
of decease, and the consent in writing
Of her maternal grandmother, unless
| she intends to be present at the we'd
| ding" He further Informed me that 1t
would be necessary to produce copies of
my own and my fiancee's birth certiti-
Gates, not only, as 1 supposed, to prove
that we had been duly born, but also to
| satisfy him that we were being married
| in our proper names-though | fail to
see what there would be to prevent any
| one from using other peoples birth GER
tifcates. Beyond this, it appeared that
| trate would have to be forthcoming from
j the owners of our respective places of
abode, certifying that we had resided
| there for at least six months previously,
and, in addition, a doctors certificate to
! the effect that we had been duly vaccin-
ated
AS soon as l had been able to procure
the necessary documents, which took a
week or ten days, 1 paid a visit to the
| British consulate, and there ascertained
| that the officials delgned to transact
business only between the leisurely
hours of eleven and three; and, as it
was then five minutes past three, l was
obliged to return on the following day.
I was then informed that l must leave
my birth certificate and the sum of
| twentyseven francs fifty centimes, and
call back in couple of days. At the
| time specified / called, and was handed
a very formidable document stamped
with the British royal arms. and getting
| forth in French that as British sub
| ject of full age I was free to contract
marriage without the consent of my pa
rents. This was accompanied by a
translation Of my birth certificate,
which was appended to the original
| document l had left. The whole of
these documents bore consular stamps.
and were signed by the consul. 1 now