The Alaska citizen., 1917-07-09
LICENSES TO WE'D ARE NOW
 NECESSITIES

f' " ''' A'i''Ht~iiN t'''AN AN " 'A thing that no license 10 wed Wa necessary when a marriage ceremony was t3 b pyyGa"i3cI a#t th" t"r:! tory k now advancing m that re .pect as well as in all others. For the last Alaska legislature passed law providing that marriage license in Alaska are necessity. The law was approved on May 9, and there fore. in accordance with the pro. visions ol the enabling act which names the powers given he legisla lure in the matter of passing law, it becomes effective on August 3 oi this year. Therefore, after that date. marriage licenses will have to be procured by all who contract to wed
 Different attorneys have ymiou- opinions in regard to the marrjag" law in Alaska. In the old days un der the law. however. marriages per formed by any legalized official werr recognized regardless of whether or not they were recorded Later a law was passed making it necessary for marriages to be recorded within thir- ty days after they were performed A still later law provided that they should be recorded as a matter Of vital statistics.
 And now comes the law providing that marriage licenses must be issued to the contracting parties by d Unit ed States commissioner. That pro vision is contained in the first see. tion of the law. The second section of the law is relative to the identi fication of the persons applying for the license. by the commissioner is suing the same The third section provides for the issuing of licenses with regard to the age of thr con rractng parties when they ar" min ors. The fourth section provides for the punishment of the commissioner violating the act by either fine or Imprisonment or both. The fifth sec tion provides for marriage license forms and the keeping of a mar Iiage license docket. The sixth states that the license authorizes the marriage of the persons named in the license in any precinct of the territory within one year of the date of the issuance of the license, pro yided they are properly identified by the person who is to perform the marriage ceremony and provid- ing also that they are fiji persons to enter the marriage contract ac- cording to law.
 Section seven gives the form ol the license. Section eight provides for the punishment of the person performing q marriage ceremony con, uary to the provisions of the act, Section nine refers to the punish ment for the same crime, Section ton provides for the punishment ot commissioners who fail to keep q marriage license docket and to keep it open to inspection during office hours by any person Section eleven provides for fines and forfeitures under the act. Section tWelV" says that all marriages contracted after the act goes into effect, in violation Ot the requirements of sec ton one. that which provides for the license, shall be null and void. Sections thirteen and fourteen re late to subsequent marriages. Sec ton fifteen provides for the return of marriages by the commissioner on February l of each year to the registrar of vital statistics of the territory. Section sixteen provides for the payment of $2.5O as li- cense fee to the commissioner and also for the payment of $l for the filing of the marriage certificate, the law releasing the officiating officer or minister from the performance of the latter duty Section seventeen provides that nothing in the act shall be construed to repeal the pro visions of any part of the territorial vital statistics law.
 It had been known here for some time that some kind of law had been passed by the Alaska legisla- ture relative to the issuance Of mar riage licenses Copies of the law, however, had not been received un- til lately, and it was read with some by those who had lately been performing marriage ceremonies on account of the fact that that law reads as if it was intended to take affect a6jate1V after it was