The river press., 1909-11-24
HOW TO GET MARRIED.
Failure To Comply With Montana
Laws May Cause Trouble.

Failure To Comply With Montana
Laws May Cause Trouble.
Among the documents recently re.
ceived by the clerk of the district court
10 a marriage certificate which sets
forth the fact that two persons of leg al
age were married last week at Ches.
ter, the ceremony being performed
by duly ordained minister whose
signatur is attached to the certificate.
The document is in proper form with
one important exception, the marriage
license attach d to the certificate show
ing that it was issued in Cascade
county.
The apparently immaterial discrep.
ancy causes quite tangle In this
matrimonial venture, the Montana
laws providing that: "Previous to
the solemnizatio OF any marriage in
this state, q license for that purpose
must be obtained from the clerk of the
district court of the county wherein
the marriage is to take place." A
clergyman. or any other person au.
thorized to perform q marriage cere-
mony, is required to inspect the Ii.
cense and ascertain whether it was
issued in the county in which the cou.
pie is about to be joined in wedlock.
II It is not issued in accordance with
the Montana law, he has no authority
to perform the ceremony.
There are some other features of the
Montana laws pertaining to marriage
that may be of interest to lovesick
citizens and others who may soon fall
victims to that complaint. For their
convenience and benefit it is decreed
tn at marriage may be solemnized by
either a justice of the supreme court,
Judge Of the district court, justice of
the peace, priest or minister of the
gospel of any denomin alton, or the
mayor of any city. One or the other
of these authorized persons can gen.
orally be found in any part of Mon.
tana where the matrimonial microbe
plies its vocation.
First of all, however, the would.be.
bridegroom and bride must obtain q
marriage license from the clerk of the
district court, as before mentioned,
informing that official upon matters
of more or less Importance. The ap.
plication for license must state the
names and addresses OF the prospec.
tive bride and groom, the age of each
of the applicants, the christian and
surnames of the father and mother of
each party, the color of each appli.
cant and whether they have been pre-
viously married or divorced. Some
of this information may appear irrele'
want and unnecessary, but the Mon.
tana statesmen who enacted the law
decided to have things done that way.
If either of the applicants for q mar.
riage license is not of legal age, the
consent of the father, If living, must
be obtained before the license is issued.
If the father is not living, the consent
of the mother or guardian is neces-
sary. The authors of this provision
concluded this to be necessary be.
cause, under the circumstances, the
newly married couple would prob.
ably depend on their parents for sup.
port, and it is now up to the old folks
to be parties to the transaction.
Every person solemnizing mar.
riage is required to forward certii.
cate thereof, in proper form, to the
clerk of the district court within thirty
days after the wedding. Failure to do
this calls for q fine OF not less than
ten nor more than fifty dollars.
It occasionally happens that an un.
usually numerous and ferocious swarm
of matrimonial microbes attacks
couple, whose condition thereupon
calls for prompt treatment. In such
cases the patients usually apply to
person competent to perform the we'd.
ding ceremony, giving him the infor.
m alton necessary to secure marriage
license, and these facts are tele-
graphed to the clerk of the district
court. The latter Immediately enters
the information upon q license blank,
wires the parties that license has
been issued, and the ceremony is per-
formed without further delay. There is
no provision jim the Montana laws for
this course of procedure, but such in
stances are regarded as emergency
leases tn at require instantaneous relief.