will or understanding, shall be void: Provided, that no marriage followed by cohabitation and the birth of issue shall be declared void after the death of either of the parties for any of the causes stated in this section, except for that one of the parties was a white person, and the other a negro or indian, or of negro or indian descent to the third generation, inclusive, and for bigamy.

Code, s. 1810; R. C., c. 68, ss. 7, 8, 9; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 2; 1887, c. 245.
Note. See Divorce and Alimony, s. 1560.

2084. Prohibited degrees of kinship. Whenever the degree of kinship shall be estimated with the view to ascertain the right of kinspeople to marry, the half-blood shall be counted as the wholeblood: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to invalidate any marriage heretofore contracted in case where by counting the half-blood as the whole-blood the persons contracting such marriage would be nearer of kin than first cousins; but in every such case the kinship shall be ascertained by counting relations of the half-blood as being only half so near kin as those of the same degree of the whole blood.

Code, s. 1811; 1879, c. 78.

2085. Marriages between slaves validated. Persons, both or one of whom were formerly slaves, who have complied with the provisions of section five, chapter forty, of the acts of the general assembly, ratified March tenth, one thousand eight hundred and sixtysix, shall be deemed to have been lawfully married.

Code, s. 1842; 1866, c. 40, s. 5.

III. THE LICENSE.

2086. Unlawful to perform ceremony without. No minister or officer shall perform a ceremony of marriage between any two persons, or shall declare them to be man and wife, until there shall be delivered to him a license for the marriage of the said persons, signed by the register of deeds of the county in which the marriage is intended to take place, or by his lawful deputy.

Code, s. 1813; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 4.

2087. Penalty for performing ceremony without. Every minister or officer who shall marry any couple without a license being first delivered to him, as required by law, or after the expiration of such license, or who shall fail to return such license to the register of deeds within two months after any marriage celebrated by virtue thereof, with the certificate appended thereto duly filled up and

signed, shall forfeit and pay two hundred dollars to any person who shall sue therefor.

Code, s. 1817; R. C., c. 68, ss. 6, 13; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 8.
Note. For further penalty, see s. 3372.

2088. Issued by register of deeds. Every register of deeds shall, upon application, issue a license for the marriage of any two persons: Provided, it shall appear to him probable that there is no legal impediment to such marriage: Provided further, that where either party to the proposed marriage shall be under eighteen years of age, and shall reside with the father, or mother, or uncle, or aunt, or brother, or elder sister, or shall reside at a school, or be an orphan and reside with a guardian, the register shall not issue a license for such marriage until the consent in writing of the relation with whom such infant resides, or, if he or she resides at a school, of the person by whom said infant was placed at school, and under whose custody and control he or she is, shall be delivered to him, and such written consent shall be filed and preserved by the register. And whenever it shall appear to the register of deeds that it is probable there is any legal impediment to the marriage of any person for whom a license is applied he shall have power to administer to the person so applying an oath touching the legal capacity of said parties to contract a marriage.

Code, s. 1814; 1887, c. 331; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 5.

2089. Form of license. License shall be in the following or some equivalent form:

To any ordained minister of any religious denomination, or to any justice of the peace for county: A. B. having applied to me for a license for the marriage of C. D. (the name of the man to be written in full) of (here state his residence), aged....years (race, as the case may be), the son of (here state the father and mother, if known; state whether they are living or dead, and their residence, if known; if any of these facts are not known, so state), and E. F. (write the name of the woman in full) of (here state her residence), aged....years (race, as the case may be), the daughter of (here state the names and residences of the parents, if known, as is required above with respect to the man). (If either of the parties shall be under eighteen years of age, the license shall here contain the following:) And the written consent of G. H., father (or mother, etc., as the case may be) to the proposed marriage having been filed with me, and there being no legal impediment to such marriage known to me, you are hereby authorized, at any time within one year from the date hereof, to celebrate the proposed marriage at any place within the said county. You are required, within two months after you shall have celebrated such marriage, to return this license to me at my office with your signature subscribed to the certificate under this license, and with the blanks therein filled according to the facts, under penalty of forfeiting two hundred dollars to the use of any person who shall sue for the same. L. M.,

Issued this....day of..

19....

Register of Deeds of.

. County.

Every register of deeds shall designate in every marriage license issued the race of the persons proposing to marry by inserting in the blank after the word "race" the words "white," "colored" or "Indian" as the case may be. The certificate shall be filled up and signed by the minister or officer celebrating the marriage, and also be signed by one or more witnesses present at the marriage, who shall add to their names their places of residence, as follows:

I, N. O., an ordained minister of (here state to what religious denomination, or justice of the peace, as the case may be), united in matrimony (here name the parties), the parties licensed above, on the....day of.. .19...., at the house of P. R., in (here name the town, if any, the township and county), according to law.

Witnesses present at the marriage:

S. T., of (here give the residence).

Code, s. 1815; 1899, c. 541, ss. 1, 2; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 6.

N. O.

2090. Penalty for issuing unlawfully. Every register of deeds who shall knowingly or without reasonable inquiry, personally or by deputy, issue a license for the marriage of any two persons to which there is any lawful impediment, or where either of the persons is under the age of eighteen years, without the consent required by law, shall forfeit and pay two hundred dollars to any parent, guardian, or other person standing in loco parentis who shall sue for the same.

Code, s. 1816; 1895, c. 387; 1901, c. 722; R. C., c. 68, s. 13; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 7.

2091. Record of, kept by register of deeds; original filed. Every register of deeds shall keep a book (which shall be furnished on demand by the board of county commissioners of his county) on the first page of which shall be written or printed:

"Record of marriage licenses and of returns thereto, for the county of from the ... day of ... 19., to the .... day of

....

19. ., both inclusive."

In said book shall be entered alphabetically, according to the names of the proposed husbands, the substance of each marriage license and the return thereupon as follows: The book shall be divided by lines with columns which shall be properly headed, and in the first of these, beginning on the left, shall be put the date of issue of the license; in the second, the name in full of the intended husband, with his residence; in the third, his age; in the fourth, his race and color; in the fifth, the name in full of the intended wife, with her residence; in the sixth, her age; in the seventh, her race and color; in the eighth, the name and title of the minister or officer who celebrated the marriage; in the ninth, the day of the celebra

tion; in the tenth, the place of the celebration; in the eleventh, the names of all or at least three of the witnesses who signed the return as present at the celebration. The original license and return thereto shall be filed and preserved.

Code, s. 1818; 1899, c. 541, s. 3; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 9.

2092. Penalty for failure to record license and the return. Any register of deeds who shall fail to record, in the manner above prescribed, the substance of any marriage license issued by him, or who shall fail to record, in the manner above prescribed, the substance of any return made thereon, within ten days after such return made, shall forfeit and pay two hundred dollars to any person who shall sue for the same. Code, s. 1819; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 10.

2093. Secured; disposed of by will; conveyed with husband's written assent. The real and personal property of any female in this state, acquired before marriage, and all property, real and personal, to which she may, after marriage, become in any manner entitled, shall be and remain the sole and separate estate and property of such female, and shall not be liable for any debts, obligations or engagements of her husband, and may be devised and bequeathed, and, with the written assent of her husband, conveyed by her as if she were unmarried.

Const., Art. X, s. 6.

Note. For purchase money mortgage executed by husband alone, see s. 3085.

2094. Can not contract without husband's consent. No woman during her coverture shall be capable of making any contract to affect her real or personal estate, except for her necessary personal expenses, or for the support of the family, or such as may

be necessary in order to pay her debts existing before marriage, without the written consent of her husband, unless she be a free trader, as hereinafter allowed.

Code, s. 1826; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 17.

Note. For laborer's and material liens against, see s. 2016.

2095. May draw checks. Bank deposits made by or in the name of a married woman shall be paid only to her or on her order, and her check, receipt or acquittance shall be valid in law to fully discharge the bank from any and all liability on account thereof. 1891, c. 221, s. 30; 1893, c. 344.

2096. What leases require joinder of husband and privy examination. No lease or agreement for a lease or sublease or assignment by any married woman, not a free trader, of her lands or tenements, or chattels real, to run for more than three years, or to begin in possession more than six months after its execution, or any conveyance of any freehold estate in her real property, shall be valid, unless the same be executed by her and her husband, and proved or acknowledged by them, and her free consent thereto, appear on her examination separate from her husband, as is now or may hereafter be required by law in the probate of deeds of femes covert.

Code, s. 1834; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 26.

2097. Land of, not sold or leased without their consent; husband's interest exempt from execution. No real estate belonging at the time of marriage to females, married since the third Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, nor any real estate by them subsequently acquired, nor any real estate acquired on and since the first day of March, one thousand eight. hundred and forty-nine, by femes covert, who were such on the said third Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, shall be subject to be sold or leased by the husband for the term of his own life or any less term of years, except by and with the consent of his wife, first had and obtained, to be ascertained and effectuated by deed and privy examination, according to the rules required by law for the sale of lands belonging to femes covert. And no interest of the husband whatever in such real estate shall be subject to sale to satisfy any execution obtained against him; and every such sale is hereby declared null and void.

Code, s. 1840; R. C., c. 56; 1848, c. 41.

2098. May make a will. Every married woman shall have power to devise and bequeath her real and personal estate as if she were a feme sole; and her will shall be proved as is required of other wills. Code, s. 1839; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 31.