B. Consent of parents.
B. Consent of parents. In the oldest Germanic law the consent not alone of parents but also of other near relatives, was a necessary, or at all events usual, preliminary of marriage. 'Intersunt parentes et propinqui,' says Tacitus, 'ac munera probant.'[1] In Holland a case is cited as late as the year 1422 in which parents had incurred a penalty for having given their minor daughter in marriage without the consent of relatives and of the authorities of the town.[2] In the sixteenth century the matter was regulated by two statutory enactments: viz. the Perpetual Edict of Charles V of October 4, 1540, and the Political Ordinance of the States of Holland and West
Priesland, of April 1, 1580.
The Perpetual Edict (Art. 17) runs as follows:[3]
provisions of the perpetual Edict of October 4, 1540, Art. 17.
'And whereas, daily, many inconveniences are caused in our realm in consequence of secret marriages, which are contracted between young persons without the advice counsel and consent of friends and relatives of both sides, we observing that according to the precepts of the written law such marriages are not in accordance with honour and due obedience, and generally come to a bitter end, Will, Ordain and Decree that in case any one shall take upon himself to solicit and induce any young girl not exceeding the age of twenty years by promise or otherwise, to contract marriage with him, or shall in fact contract marriage with her without the consent of the father or mother of the said girl, or of the majority of the friends and relatives, in case she had no father or mother, or of the judicial authorities of the place, such man shall at
[4]- ↑ Tacitus, Agricola, cap. 18.
- ↑ Hoola van Nooten, vol. i, p. 300.
- ↑ 1 G. P. B. 319; 1 Maasdorp, p. 287.
- ↑ other degree of consanguinity or affinity than those in section one mentioned.
In Natal the prohibited degrees are left to the common law, except that Act No. 45, 1898, legalizes the marriage of a man with his deceased wife's sister.
For Ceylon see Ord. No. 19 of 1907, sec. 17. It has been held that by the law of the Colony there is no objection to a man marrying his wife's sister (Valliammai v. Annammai (1900), 4 N. L. R. 8). But the Ordinance is silent on the subject and the Court does not appear to have investigated the common law.
In British Guiana Ord. No. 25 of 1901 (see. 28) defines the prohibited degrees and permits marriage with a deceased wife's sister.
