THE MARRIAGE LAW OF NEW YORK.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2548, 21 May 1881, Page 2

THE MARRIAGE LAW OF NEW YORK.

SECOND EDITION

**A case of “ playing at marriage ” has just been decided by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and the result should be a warning to thoughtless young people who indulge in such foolish performances. A young couple were married in the presence of a large party, at a scene in some private theatricals, and a legal friend of the parents notified them that the marriage was actual instead of fictitious. Tho case was taken through the several Courts to the Supreme Court, and Justice Folger, who was talked of for Secretary of the Treasury, released them ; but in his opinion clearly defined wbat constitutes a marriage in the State of New York as follows :—“ By the law of this State a man and woman who are compntent to marry each other without going before a minister or magistrate, without previous public notice given, with no form or ceremony, civil or religious, and with no record or written evidence of of the act kept, and merely by words of present contract between them, may take upon themselves relations of husband and wife, and be bound to themselves, to the state and society as such ; and if after the marriage is denied, proof of actual co habitation of husband and wife, acknowledgement and recognition of each other to friends and acquaintances and public ns such, and the general reputation thereof, will enable a court to presume that there was in the beginning an actual honn fide marriage.