Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/588

 550

The Green Bag

nessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

with regard to the essentials of a valid

As the Act now stands, with the omis sion of this section, no marriage of minors is voidable for failure to obtain parental consent. This seems to mean that the state, for whose interest it is to require such consent not as an end in itself, but for the sake of the assurance of proper unions which such consent

marriage, and (2) merely formal, non compliance with them implying no seri

signiﬁes, does nothing to undo the mis chief of youthful marriages entered into

ous fault on the part of the contracting

under

parties.

promise nothing but disaster.

In consequence the section was stricken

out of the Uniform Marriage Act which was approved by the Conference. The requirements of the Uniform Mar

riage Act are of two classes: (1) sub stantive, involving a sound public policy

For failure to meet with the

conditions

which

too

often

ﬁrst group of requirements, the Act makes marriages null and void, but vio lation of formal requirements entails no

such consequences. The consent of parent or guardian, in the case of minors, is not treated as a substantive requirement, and the Act does not make

marriages void where such consent has not been obtained. In this respect the Act follows the example of many states which have statutes requiring parental consent, but have no legislation declar

ing marriages void when contracted without it, with the result that the re

quirement has been construed by the courts as directory rather than manda

CHIEF JUSTICE KNOWLTON'S RETIREMENT HE resignation of Hon. Marcus P. Knowlton, Chief Justice of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, was presented to the Governor on August 7. Ill health was given as the reason, Chief Justice Knowlton being known to be a sufferer from failing eyesight. Chief Justice Knowlton, who is sixty-eight years of age, has been a Justice of the Supreme Court since 1887, and Chief Justice since 1902. From 1881 to 1887 he was a judge of the Superior Court

tory.

He entered politics about ten years after

The object in making such marriages voidable, which is very different from

his admission to the bar at Springﬁeld

making them void, was to protect those

Mass, being elected representative and state senator before his elevation

who had been inveigled into imprudent

to the bench.

marriages before coming of age. The section was carefully drawn to prevent such marriages from being dissolved by

a mass of written opinions, a large pro

He leaves behind him

portion of which have dealt with the constitutionality of statutes, and which

a parent acting from other than disin terested motives. But possibly it

exhibit strong qualities of scholarship,

was so drawn as to make it too easy for young persons to free themselves from

The high rank which the Supreme Court

obligations which had grown irksome or

maintained of late years, has been due

largeness of view and clear discernment of the state, true to its traditions, has

We

in no small measure to the marked indus

ﬁnd it hard to accept the latter view; and one can judge of its soundness only in the light of conditions in communities

try, training and quickness of mind of

which were never soberly assumed.

where there is a stronglymarked tendency to early marriages.

Chief Justice Knowlton, who has been

worthy to follow in the footsteps of Gray and Holmes.

It has been pointed out

that the Court has of late years been dis