signed by him with his official or clerical designation, and the license with such certificate thereon, shall be transmitted, without delay, to the probate court out of which the license issued. certificate. SECTION 10. The certificate mentioned in section Form of nine shall be substantially in the following form: county, Oklahoma Territory, do hereby certify that I joined in marriage the persons named in and authorized by this license to be married, on the day of 18 .at in ........ the presence of of in county, O. T., in judge to keep SECTION 11. The probate judge issuing any mar- Probate riage license, shall make a complete record of the record. application, license and certificate thereon, in connected form, each subjoining the other, in a book kept by him for that purpose. properly indexed; and the record of the license shall be made before it is delivered to the person procuring the same, and the record of the certificate shall be made upon the return of the license. evidence of marriage. SECTION 12. If the probate judge before whom Additional application for a marriage license is made, shall be legality of in doubt of the legal capacity of the parties for whose marriage license is sought, to enter into the marriage relation, he shall require additional evidence to that contained in the application, and may swear and examine witnesses or require affidavits in proof of the legality of such marriage, and unless satisfied of the legality thereof he shall not issue a license therefor. SECTION 13. All marriages contracted without this Foreign Territory which would be valid in the state, territory, valid. or country where entered into, shall be held valid in all the courts of this Territory. marriages evidence. SECTION 14. Copies of any record required to be Records as made and kept by probate judges under the provisions of this act, certified to by the judge of the court in which such record is made and kept, under his Marriage of whites with negroes prohibited. Penalty for violations. Laws in conflict repealed. official signature and seal, shall be received as evidence in all the courts of this Territory. SECTION 15. All marriages of persons of the white race with persons of the negro race are prohibited. SECTION 16. Any person, male or female, living with another person of the opposite sex as husband and wife without being lawfully married as required by the provisions of this act, and any person entering into the marriage relation contrary to the provisions of this act, and any probate judge knowingly issuing any marriage license contrary to the provisions of this act, or any person knowingly performing or solemnizing the marriage ceremony contrary to any of the provisions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction be punished by [a] fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. SECTION 17. All of chapter 49 of the statutes of Oklahoma, of 1893, entitled, "Marriage Contracts," and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent here with are hereby repealed. SECTION 18. This act shall be in force and effect from and after its passage and approval. Approved February 26, 1897. Certain marriages AN ACT to provide for and regulate marriages and divorces among certain Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of SECTION 1. That on the approval of this act, all alty, and who have their homes in this territory, and declared legal. who are living together as husband and wife, and who have, before that date, been married according to the Indian custom, are hereby declared to be lawfully married, and all divorces heretofore had among such Indians according to the Indian custom, shall be, and the same are hereby declared to be legal. declared SECTION 2. All children of such Indians as have Children taken allotments, born in, or begotten, in any Indian legitimate. marriage existing prior to the passage of this act, shall be legitimate heirs of both the father and mother to whom they were born, notwithstanding the fact that the father and mother may have been divorced, and married to other persons, according to the Indian custom. according to tom ilegal. SECTION 3. After the passage of this act, mar- Marriage riages and divorces among such Indians, or among Indian custheir descendants, according to the Indian custom, shall be unlawful, and shall be punished as hereinafter provided. according to SECTION 4. On and after the approval of this act, Must marry such Indians and their descendants, shall procure law. marriage licenses in the same county and have their marriages solemnized by the same persons, and returns thereof made in the manner as is provided by the laws of this territory for the making of marriage contracts by other persons. divorced SECTION 5. Such Indians and their descendants Must be may hereafter obtain divorces in the manner and for according to the causes provided in the statutes of this territory, and not otherwise. law. of bigamy. SECTION 6. If any such Indian is, at the date of when guilty the passage of this act and according to the provisions thereof, married to another person, or shall thereafter be married to another person, and shall, while his or her husband or wife is living, be married to another person, either in legal form or according to Indian custom, he or she shall be guily of bigamy, except in the cases specified in article 1, chapter 25, of the statutes of 1893, and shall be punished thereafter as in that article provided. No Indian shall be punished for bigamy committed prior to the passage of this act. Must select which of several is wife. Record of selection inust be made. SECTION 7. If, at the date of the passage of this act, any such Indian man be living with and cohabiting with more than one wife, to whom he has previously been married according to Indian custom, he shall, on or before the first day of July, 1897, designate one of them as his lawful wife, and cause her name to be recorded as such, as provided in section 8 of this act, and thereafter, the one so designated shall be held to be his lawful wife. If he shall, after that date, continue to live and co-habit with any Indian woman other than the one so designated as his wife, or shall fail to make such designation on or before that date, he shall be guilty of bigamy, and shall suffer the punishment provided for that offense: Provided, That no such Indian shall be permitted to abandon the wife to whom he has been married in the manner provided by the laws of the territory, and under the provisions of this act. SECTION 8. It is hereby made the duty of all probate judges in this Territory, on or before the first day of July, 1897, or as soon thereafter as it can be done, to obtain and make a record of all Indians holding allotted lands in his county, who are at the date he makes such record, married according to the provisions of this act, which record shall show the name of each husband, and of his wife. He shall enter the same in the marriage record of his office. He shall, also, take and record the election of all such Indian men as have more than one wife to whom they may have been married according to Idian custom, and shall make a record of the name of the husband and the wife so selected, and shall, also, make a record of the names of Indian wives rejected by such man, or of his refusal to make such election, as the case may be. He shall report to the county attorney for prosecution, the names of all Indian men who refuse to make such selection. To enable the probate judge to obtain such information, he shall first apply to the United States Indian agent therefor, and if such agent will furnish to him a record, certified to by the Indian agent as correct, showing the matters and things desired, he shall enter the same of record in the marriage record, with like force and effect, as though he had himself procured the information. The probate judge shall apply to such Indian agent for such record, not earlier than the first day of June, 1897, nor later than the 15th day of that month. An Indian man, with more than one wife, may make known his selection to such Indian agent, and cause the same to be recorded and reported by him. If such Indian agent shall refuse or neglect to furnish such record, then the probate judge shall proceed to procure the information among the Indians, as best he can, and for so doing, shall be allowed and paid a fee of twenty-five cents for each Indian so recorded, which fee shall be paid by said Indian. The record so made by the probate judge, and certified copies thereof, shall be legal and competent evidence in all proceedings, of the facts therein authorized to be stated. laws in SECTION 9. All acts and parts of acts in conflict Repeal of with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. SECTION 10. This act shall be in force and effect from and after its passage and approval. Approved March 12, 1897. AN ACT to amend section 18, chapter 51, the same being running section 3270, of the statutes of Oklahoma Territory, of 1893, entitled, "Mortgages." Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Oklahoma: SECTION 1. That section 18, of chapter 51, of the Mortgage of statutes of Oklahoma Territory, 1893, be, same is hereby amended to read as follows: and the personal Section against property void |