Thursday, June 15, 2006

Traditional Family Values

teh
Can’t get much more traditional than this.
DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A 15-year-old girl can enter into a common-law marriage
in Colorado, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. Younger girls and boys may also be able to marry.

While the three-judge panel stopped short of setting a specific minimum age for such marriages, it said they could be legal for girls at 12 and boys at 14 under English common law, which Colorado recognizes.

[snip]

Colorado is one of 10 states, plus the District of Columbia, that recognize common-law marriage, which is based on English law dating back hundreds of years.
The other common laws states are listed here (they’re mostly in the West and South).

I don’t know much about common law marriages but I do know the nature of marriage is constantly changing. For example it wasn’t unusual or even illegal for girls 13-years-old girls to be married in many places in the country. More recently, interracial marriages were still against the law in many places.

My point: those who claim marriage has been this static institution since the dawn of man are full of it. By “it” I mean historical ignorance.

1 comment:

RC said...

Bush was smart he'd be fighting against the whole realm of marriage include issues like this and domestic violence, divorce, etc.

--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com