Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1883 — Formality of the German Marriage Laws. [ARTICLE]

Formality of the German Marriage Laws.

MATERN, of Chicago, will bemarJ ried to Madeline Kuhn, or Souffelweyersheim, at Souffelweyersheiin. Any person having any objections will forward same to the Governor at Strasbourg, or to Joseph Wurts, Mayor of Souffelsheim, Alsace, Germany. It seemed strange that a citizen of Chicago, who proposed to unite his fortunes with those of a maiden of Souffelweyersheim, should publish his engagement in the daily papers and even go so far as to request people “having objections” to communicate with the civil authorities in Germany. A reporter called upon Mr. Julius Rosenthal, the well-known lawyer, and from him obtained an explanation of the proceeding. Mr. Rosenthal read an extract from Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, showing that, according to the old English law, no marriage could be legally performed without a prior publication of the bans. “There is a provision,” said Mr. Rosenthal, “in the Code Napoleon to the same affect, and, therefore, the authorities in Germany could hot perform the marriage ceremony in the present instance without a publication of the bans where the contracting parties resided. The motives for such a provision will be readily seen. From the present advertisement it would appear that the marriage ceremony was to be performed by the civil authorities, but without publishing a notice at Matern’s place of residenpe, it would be impossible for them to tell whether the latter was married, or whether there was any other obstacle to the proposed union.”— Chicago Tribune.