The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1911-07-25
MARRIAGE LICENSE CLERKS
NOT ACQUAINTED WITH LAW

gether the persons therein named, as
husband and wife,
1t will be noted that this section
falls to state the time that a woman
shall reside in a county to enable her
to obtain a marriage license. There is
a common impression among the peo-
pie that woman must reside in a
county for a certain length of time
thirty days. for instance--in order to
be able to obtain a license, but such is
not the law. The question of residence
is. in law. largely a question of intent.
and when an applicant says to the
clerk that she is resident of the
county. it seems. from the opinion of
lawyers. that the clerk is justified in
granting the license. unless he hap
pens to have contrary information on
the subject or has other reason to be-
lieve that a license should not issue.
In many cases. it is pointed out, the
county clerk, when criticised for hav-
ing issued a license to an clipping
! couple from another county, merely
, answers that the. girl said she was
resident of the county, and that he
took her word for IT.
Section 1853 of the statutes tells
what. shall be contained in the applica-
:ion for the marriage license. Both
the male and the female applicant are
Required to give all the information
specified in this section. The section
reads as follows:
That no license to marry shall be is
sued except upon written and verified
application. Such application contains
a statement of the full christian and
surname. color. birthplace. occupation.
residence and ages of the parties,
whether the marriage contemplated is
tthef first. second or other marriage. to-
! gether with the full christian and sur
names. residence. color, occupation and
birthplace of their parents, including
the maiden name of the mother. to-
gether with such other facts as may be
necessary to determine whether any
Illegal impeachment to the proposed mar
'riage exists. Such application shall be
! recorded by the clerk in a book pro-
vided for that purpose. which book
shall be a public record"
This section does not require the
affidavit to be made by the applicants.
/ 1t merely requires a written and veri-
fed application. The next section says
| that the state board of health shalt
lprovide a uniform form of application
TO be used throughout the state The
board prepared the form soon after the
passage of the law. 1t contains a line
for the signature of the applicant, and
at the bottom of the sheet there is 4
form of affidavit to be signed and
sworn to by some one. II has been held
that this affidavit to the truth of the
statements made in the application
may be made by a third person instead
of by the applicant for the license.
! This feature of the law. also. has
caused much trouble. If the applicant
were required to make the affidavit
and it should be discovered that he
had made false statements he could
l-bc punished for violation of the law
But under the present system appli-
cants for licenses sometimes pick up
unknown loafers in the streets and hire
| them to swear to the truth of the
statements made in the application If
any question is raised as to the iegali-
ty of such application. the country
clerk generally takes refuge behind
the plea that he had no reason to doubt
that the entire transaction was legal
But a careful and conscientious
county clerk has every facility for CIV