The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-08-04
Marriage Difficulties That
Beset French Couples

| has been the slightest lrreSulaflty ID
the lives of mother and father, fam
| lily skeletons rattle their bones to
the amazement, amusement and often
CONSERVATION of the world at larSI
AS a consequence, the prospective.
bride or bridegroom suffers. There
are cases cited where unlawful re-
lations existing were unknown to the
son or daughter, and no doubt happy
alliances have been destroyed by the
withdrawal of one of the parties when
the facts were disclosed.
DR.. Marechal, assistant to the
MAYOR of the Eighth reimbursement,
has recently risen with ~eloquence
against the useless and veyatious pub
LEGATION of banns, bringing up many
reasons for their suppression. No one
profits by the bulletins, and to avoid
bigamy or relations forbidden by the
law, 100000 candidates for matrl-
mony in France are harassed every
year by the formalities and expenses;
100000 persons lose their time,
money and energy. 70 one is ex-
| empt from the ironclad rules. Even
the officers of the army must have
certain papers signed by their chiefs,
and these handed in with the rest.
If parents are separated, divorced,
emigrated or irresponsible, there is
a world of difficulty, for no matter
what the age of the man, if his par
ents are alive and oppose his mar
rage the parents must be searched
for, found and papers signed. The
owner of the house in which his lease
is taken out must be called upon
perhaps half a dozen times, he must
make rendezvous at the commissaire
de police, he must visit the marie,
go up staircase A, down staircase B,
take underground or taximeter II he
is hurried, all costing money and all
taking time in a city like Paris,
where distances are enormous n
! where nothing is centred.
A foreigner wishing to marry in
France must conform rigidly to the
laws. Birth certificates and consents
or ~refusals must be signed and sent,
furnished by some magistrate Of the
native town of the aspirant to the
marriage state. If he or she be
widower or widow, then death GER
tificate of wife or husband, with the
seal of State, are necessary. For a
divorce papers are required from
some one representing the court. II
the marriage was dissolved a month,
a year or twenty years previous.
It is absolutely impossible to evade
the law, as one will see. Papers are
carefully examined and all missing
links, no matter how trivial, must be
supplied. If every detail is not fur
nished, useless and interminable de-
lays are occasioned. Marriage is
not only a family affair in France,
but one in which the whole country
seems peculiarly interested, and, as
a matter of course, every protection
is taken to make it legal and bind
ing.
The French marriage law protects
both men and women-men perhaps
more than women. Seduction is no
reason for a marriage ceremony by
the State, no matter what the age or
mental condition of the girl. The
Court is sure to rebuke a father try
ing to force a young man into legally
taking his daughter. 1.-THE fault Is
yours. You should have put better
influences about your child, not al
lowing the couple to be alone. ANY,
way, you could not prove that the
young mai is the sole lover" etc., is
! about what would be said to a father
who had taken such a case before the
law.
! There is no such thing as a young
dandy awakening after a debauch to
find himself married to the woman
who was his "pal' in dissipation, the
marriage certificate having been pro-
cured by the woman's relatives or
friends.
The paper aid documents con-
| sumed in formalities might be of con-
| %sideration were they outside France.
But nothing is lawful here unless
consecrated in black and white. Five
hundred men copy and recopy mar
rage regulations and publication
acts, and when one considers that this
| goes on twelve hours out of the
twenty-four, day in and day out,
paper alone becomes a big expense
item.-New York Evening Sun.