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Marriage is a contract. In order to enter the contract of marriage certain requirements must be met. Both persons entering into the contract must be of a legal age to marry. Both must be of a sound mind. Neither may be in a marriage with another. If one obtains a license from the government it is a marriage. If one doesn’t bother with going to the courthouse and getting a licenses and instead “holds one self out” to be married it is still a marriage. Whether or not a couple gets a licenses they can have a marriage by a minister. Certain religions or certain denominations may require the couple to obtain the government’s licenses before preforming the religious ceremony.
This is not a new idea in 17 B.C. the Roman proletarians had free marriages. This is what we would call common law marriage. The bride’s father would deliver her to the groom, and the two agreed that they were wed, and would keep the vow of marriage by mutual consent. Wealthy Romans signed documents to publicly declare that their union was legalized and not a common law marriage. This was the beginning of the official recording of a marriage contract.
The main thing to understand is that if you were married by signing a filing for the IRS or if you were married in a huge religious ceremony with hundreds of guest you are legally married. The only way you can be unmarried is to obtain a divorce decree from the judge. There is no such thing as a common law divorce.
Marriage is a contract. In order to enter the contract of marriage certain requirements must be met. Both persons entering into the contract must be of a legal age to marry. Both must be of a sound mind. Neither may be in a marriage with another. If one obtains a license from the government it is a marriage. If one doesn’t bother with going to the courthouse and getting a licenses and instead “holds one self out” to be married it is still a marriage. Whether or not a couple gets a licenses they can have a marriage by a minister. Certain religions or certain denominations may require the couple to obtain the government’s licenses before preforming the religious ceremony.Marriage without first obtaining a governments licenses is called a common law marriage. In Alabama common law marriage has all of the rights, obligations and guarantees as a licenses marriage.
From time to time people find themselves married without setting down and planning the wedding. An almost certain way to become legally married through common law is to file taxes together as husband and wife. As a matter of fact if the couple is able to marry and they enter into any contractual obligation (such as buying a house, car, or furniture on credit or providing insurance as husband and wife) they may very well be married.
This is not a new idea in 17 B.C. the Roman proletarians had free marriages. This is what we would call common law marriage. The bride’s father would deliver her to the groom, and the two agreed that they were wed, and would keep the vow of marriage by mutual consent. Wealthy Romans signed documents to publicly declare that their union was legalized and not a common law marriage. This was the beginning of the official recording of a marriage contract.The concept of marriage as a sacrament and not just a contract can be traced to St. Paul who compared the relationship of a husband and wife to that of Christ and his Church.
The main thing to understand is that if you were married by signing a filing for the IRS or if you were married in a huge religious ceremony with hundreds of guest you are legally married. The only way you can be unmarried is to obtain a divorce decree from the judge. There is no such thing as a common law divorce.Socrates, the philosopher, must not have been a happily married man. He is quoted as, ” By all means marry; If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one you will become a philosopher.”
