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
