By G. D. LYNCH (Barrister-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 Encyclopaedia only the simplest and clearest language will be used, so that readers may understand every aspect of the law with regard to — . Marria':;e Money Matters Employer's Liability Taxes Children Servants Lodgers Wills Landlords Pets Sanitation Wife's Debts, etc., etc. MARRIAGE LAW M^ ARRIAGE is a contract into which people under the age of twenty-one are capable of entering, and is the voluntary- union for life of one man and one woman. The Age of Consent^ In order to establish a legal marriage the contracting parties must have reached the age of consent, which is fourteen in males and twelve in females. When both parties have arrived at the age of consent, the objections of parents and guardians will not be successful in setting the marriage aside if such objections are deferred until after the marriage has been celebrated. To prevent the union the parents or guardians must make their objections in time, during the publication of the banns or before the licence is granted. After the banns have been published a clergyman of the Church of England may solemnise a marriage between parties who are obviously under twenty-one years of age- without the consent of their parents or guardians, provided that no notice of any objection on the part of such parents or guardians to the marriage is made either publicly in the church or notified to him privately. Although it is quite possible for young people under twenty-one years of age to get married without the consent of their parents or guardians, the general rule is that such consent should first be obtained before the marriage is celebrated. Therefore, when parties under age go before a registrar or a surrogate in order to be married by certificate or licence, they will be required to satisfy the registrar that the consent of their parents has been obtained, or that there is nobody from whom such authority is necessary. And if the registrar has reason to doubt the truth of the assertion, he is justified in demanding a written consent to the marriage from the parent or guardian, or in requiring the personal attendance of the parents of the party who is under age. Misstatements A person who is guilty of a false oath or fraud in procuring a marriage between a minor and himself is liable to forfeit all the property which accrues to him through the marriage. For wilfully giving any false information for insertion in the marriage register, a person may be convicted of, and punished for, perjury. It is very important that every question should be answered correctly, although even a deliberate misstatement is less likely now to imperil the validity of the marriage than in bygone days, when it often proved fatal ; if, however, a woman is unwilling to state her exact age, it is better for her to describe herself as of " full age," " about thirty," or " a minor," than to make a deliberate misstatement regarding it. Anybody may hinder the grant of a cer- tificate or a licence by lodging a caveat with the registrar, and paying a fee of five shillings. But the issue of a certificate may also be forbidden by any authorised person by writing the word " Forbidden " opposite the entry in the Marriage Notice Book, and subscribing his or her name, address, and authority. When the minor is a widow or a widower, the consent of parents or guardians is not required. Marriages may be contracted in any one of the following ways in England — viz., after the publication of banns in church, with the registrar's certificate in church.
