Court Opinion

ID: 9546993
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:39:23.759529+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:07.790618
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Alter
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority opinion in which the court holds that the relationship between the parties to this action was such as to constitute a valid common-law marriage. In such a marriage there must be an actual and mutual agreement between the parties to enter into *289a matrimonial relationship, and they must be competent in law to make a valid contract to be consummated by their cohabitation as man and wife or their mutual assumption openly of marital duties and obligations.
It appears from the undisputed evidence in the instant case that one of the parties, by reason of a diseased condition, could not secure the certificate for which provision is made in chapter 128 of the Colorado 1939 Session Laws, subsequently amended by chapter 177, Session Laws of 1945; hence the parties could not enter into a valid ceremonial marriage in this state, and any qualified person attempting to perform such a ceremony without the requisite statutory health certificate would be committing a criminal offense for which penalties are provided.
In the case under consideration, a physical disability existing which by statute makes a legal ceremonial marriage impossible, the parties could not circumvent the law and enter into a valid common-law marital union.
Mr. Justice Moore concurs in this dissenting opinion.