Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 23.djvu/239

Rh, unless the court in which the judgment of divorce was rendered shall modify such judgment on satisfactory proof that the complainant has remarried, that five years have elapsed since the divorce was granted, and that the conduct of the defendant since the dissolution of the marriage has been uniformly good.

No formality is necessary for the solemnization of marriages in New York. But, for the purpose of being registered and authenticated, the statute provides that marriages may be solemnized by ministers of the gospel and priests; and when solemnized by them the ceremony must be according to the forms and customs of the church or society to which they belong. Marriages may also be solemnized by mayors, recorders, and aldermen of cities, judges of the county court, justices of the peace, and by justices and judges of courts of record. When solemnized by a magistrate, no particular form is required, except that the parties shall declare in the presence of the magistrate and attending witnesses that they take each other for husband and wife. It is the duty of the officiating minister or magistrate to enter the names, ages, and residences of the parties, and the witnesses to the marriage, in a book to be kept for that purpose, and he shall upon application furnish to the parties a certificate of such marriage. This certificate, if presented to the clerk of the city or town where the marriage was solemnized, or where either of the parties resides, shall be filed by such clerk and entered in a book. The entry, or a certified copy thereof, or the marriage certificate, shall be received as evidence of such marriage. The provisions of the law regulating the solemnization of marriages, however, do not apply to the people called Quakers, nor to Jews, who are married according to the regulations of their respective churches.

In Connecticut the statute declares that no man shall marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, niece, step-mother or step-daughter; that no woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, grandson, brother, uncle, nephew, step-father, or stepson; and that, if any man or woman shall marry within the degrees aforesaid, such marriage shall be void. It provides further that no persons shall be married until one of them shall inform the register of the town, or the town-clerk, in which the marriage is to be celebrated, of the name, age, color, occupation, birthplace, residence, and condition—whether single, widowed, or divorced—of each. Such register, or town-clerk, shall thereupon issue his certificate that the parties therein named have complied with the law, which certificate shall be a license for any person authorized to solemnize marriages to give in marriage, in said town only, the parties therein named; but no such certificate shall be issued if either of the parties is a minor, under the control of a parent or a guardian, until such parent or guardian shall give to the register, or town-clerk, his written consent; and any register, or town-clerk, who shall knowingly issue such certificate without