Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/198

 188 PETER H. BURNETT. parties shall be under twenty-one years of age. the consent of the parents or guardians of such minors shall be necessary to the validity of such matrimonial engagement. Every or- dained minister of the gospel, of any religious denomination, the supreme judge, and all justices of the peace, are hereby authorized to solemnize marriage according to the law, to have the siiine recorded, and pay the recorder's fee. The legal fee for marriage shall be $1, and for recording 50 cents. This extreme law made the marriage of persons under the age of twenty-one years, without the consent of their parents or guardians, invalid, and therefore void; thus subjecting the young people to the charge and consequences of living in a state of adultery, and their innocent children to all the consequences of bastardy. Our committee passed the following act: An Act Amendatory of the Act Regarding Marriage. Section 1. That all males of the age of sixteen years and upward, and all females of the age of twelve and upward, shall be deemed competent to enter into the contract of mar- riage. Sec. 2. That when either of the parties about to enter into the marriage union shall be minors, the male under the age of twenty-one year, or the female under the oge of eighteen. no person authorized to solemnize the rights of matrimony shall do so without the consent of parent or guardian of such minor; and in case such person shall solemnize such mar- riage without the consent of the parent or guardian of such minor, he shall be liable to pay such parent or guardian the sum of $100, to be recovered by action of debt or assumpsit before the proper court: Provided, however, that the want of such consent shall not invalidate such marriage. Sec. 3. That all acts and parts of acts coming in con Hid with this act be and the same are hereby repealed. The legislative committee of 1843 was properly called a committee, because its duty was to prepare a code to be submitted to the mass meeting of citizens, held on the 5th of July, 1843, for their approval or rejection; the l<</il<itir< power being exercised by the people themselves on that oc- casion. But, as already stated, the legislative power was vested by the sixth article, section 2, of the laws of 1843, in