Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1874 — Marriage in California. [ARTICLE]

Marriage in California.

The San Francisco Chrdnicle has pointed out some curious features of the civil code relative to marriages in California. The law provides three distinct ways in which a couple may marry: First, a contract followed by a consummation; second the old-fashioned method by solemnization; and third, by the declaration of intention, signed, acknowledged, and filed like any other legal instrument. The first marriage under the third of these methods was recently made in Stockton, and has already created a very favorable impression as a convenient and inexpensive plan, as it requires no fuss or worry, no minister, no justice, no anything, but two parties to make a contract and acknowledge it before a notary. The law makes this marriage binding’if it is followed by a mutual assumption of marital rights, as the fifty-fifth section of the code provides: “ Marriage is a personal relation arrising out of a civil contract, to which the consent of parties capable of making it is necessary. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by a solemnisation or by a mutual assumption of marital rights, duties, or obligations.” —The sale of waste paper from the different - departments of the English Government produces an annual revenue of $50,000.