Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/572

 548 WOMAN'S LAW 3B002i By G. D. LYNCH (BAKRISTEK-AT-LAW) Legal terms and legal language make the law a mystery to most people. Yet there need be no mystery surrounding the subject, and in this section of Every Woman's Encyclopedia only the simplest and clearest language will be used, so that readers may understand every aspect of the law with regard to— Marriage Money Matters Employer'' s Liability Taxes Children Servants Lodgers Wills Landlords Pets Sanitation Wife's Debts, etc., etc. MARRIAGE LAW Conti>ined from fa^e 416, Patij TThe chief impediment to contracting a law- ful marriage is the existence of the husband or wife of a previous marriage aUve and undivorced. The ceremony of a second marriage is a mere nulHty, and of no effect, under such circumstances. Bigamy The knowledge that there is a former undivorced husband or wife living at the time of the second marriage constitutes the offence of bigamy. Persons who have been divorced have not the right to re-marry after the decree nisi has been pronounced ; they must wait until the decree has been made absolute, which is generally after an interval of six months from the passing of the decree nisi. If they marry between the decree nisi and the absolute dissolution of the marriage, they render themselves liable to- be prosecuted for bigamy. Neither party can, of course, marry after a judicial separation without committing this offence. Marriage After Seven Year.s* Absence When the husband or wife of a person has been continuously absent for seven years, and nothing whatever has come to the notice of such person to indicate that the missing husband or wife is still living, the law allows a person, under such circum- stances, to presume the death of the missing party, and to contract a second marriage, describing themselves as a widow or a widower as the case seems to indicate. Should, however, the absent spouse return the second marriage becomes abso- lutely null and void, and the returning party is in a position to enforce all his or her claims to a continuation of conjugal rights. No prosecution for bigamy can follow after a marriage contracted under such circum- stances. Lunatics and Idiots As the consent of a free agent is a necessary part of the contract of marriage, it follows that the marriages of lunatics and idiots who are not capable of consenting to any- thing are void. And it may be said that the marriage of an idiot is invariably void be- cause an idiot is a person who is mentally incapable from his birth. But the marriage of a lunatic, not under a commission of lunacy, during a lucid interval is valid. In order to support such a marriage it would be necessary to prove that there was an absence of all delusion on the part of the lunatic at the time of contracting the marriage. In the case of a marriage by a lunatic found so by inquisition, and placed under the care and custody of the Lunacy Commissioners, the ceremony would be absolutely null and void. The insanity of either party which does not develop till after marriage will not invalidate the con- tract ; nor does it, at present, afford grounds for a divorce. Impotence If an impediment exists and is incurable, marriage cannot take place, and the contract will be annulled. Apphcation must be made to the Divorce Court for a decree of nullity, which will have the effect of placing the parties in exactly the same position as they were before they went through the ceremony. I