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 Rh MARRIAGE 65 and mother, or of the survivor of them, and, failing these, of the majority of the friends and relatives,^ which con- sent, however, may be given ex post facto at any time before marriage.^ FaiHng such consent the engagement is invalid.* With it, the engagement is valid, subject however in this case, as in other contracts of minors, to restitutio in inte- grum on the ground of lesion ; * from which it follows that the engagements of minors are in no case finally binding unless and until ratified after full age.^ By the common law of Holland the consent of tutors was not required ; ® but the want of consent of tutors, no less than of parents, was a sufficient ground for the repudiation of the contract by either party.' An engagement lawfully contracted with the necessary consents cannot be broken off without just cause.^ If a person contracts more than one engagement ® we must distinguish whether the first engagement is clandestine or lawful. If the second engagement alone is lawful, it takes precedence of a previous clandestine engagement, which, as we have seen, is ineffectual to bind the parties. If the first engagement is lawful, a subsequent engagement is null and void." Under the Roman-Dutch Law the Courts used to decree specific performance of the marriage con- tract, and even declare a reluctant party married in Perpetual Edict of Charles V, 4 Oct. 1540, Art. 17 (1 G. P. B, 319) ; Oreefy. Verreaux (1829) 1 Menz. 151.  Hoola Van Nooten, vol. i, pp. 309 and 321 ; V. d. K. Th. 50.  Voet, 23. 1. 20. « Cens. For. 1. 1. 11. 13. " Hoola van Nooten, vol. i, p. 304. ' Hoola van Nooten, op. cit. p. 328 ; Loenius, Decis. 4 and 54 ; V. d. K. Th. 53. Bynkershoek {Qitaest. Jur. Priv., lib. II, cap. iii) argues that the engagements of minors who have tutors are governed by the same rules as any other contracts of minors ; viz. (1) if made without consent of tutors they are absolutely void (but see above, p. 39) ; (2) If made with consent, the minor may nevertheless in a fit case obtain relief. This seems soxmd. Voet, 23. 1. 12 ; Hoola van Nooten, vbi sup. ; V. d. K. Th. 60. " Van Leeuwen, ubi sup. But the other party to the second engage- ment, if innocent, may maintain an action for damages. V. d. K. Th. 68.  F
 * Voet, 23. 1. 17 ; V. d. K. Th. 61.
 * Van Leeuwen, 1. 14. 11.