A COMPILATION OF THE STATUTES OF THE STATES OF ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, OHIO RELATING TO THE DUTIES OF CLERGYMEN IN THE SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGE, THE ORGANIZATION OF CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS SOCIE- MEETINGS AND ASSEMBLIES, WITH NOTES AND PRACTICAL FORMS, EMBRACING A COLLATION OF THE COMMON LAW OF MARRIAGE. BY SANFORD A. HUDSON, COUNSELOR-AT-LAW. CHICAGO: S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY. ** PREFACE. THE professional duties of clergymen in the solemnization of marriage, the organization and incorporation of churches, religious societies and benevolent institutions, so often involving legal questions of importance; and realizing the necessity of a strict compliance with law in the performance of those duties, I have long been impressed with the belief that a compilation of the statutes of the several states on those subjects, with notes and practical forms, would supply a want long existing, and serve a benign purpose in the interest of that class of professional men, and the general public as well. Clergymen, who perform the greater number of marriages, are very liable to commit errors in consequence of not having access to the statutes of the state, and those removing from one state to another will be quite likely to be deceived, as the laws of the several states on this subject differ so widely that a marriage performed according to the laws of one state would not be in conformity to those of another; and they are not always aware that a neglect of duty in some important particular may subject them to a statutory penalty. It has ever been the policy of legislatures to regulate this subject by stringent laws, which apply more particularly to the officiating minister than to the parties. They have also provided for the incorporation of churches, religious societies and institutions; and in the new states, organizations under these laws are constantly springing up, and must require an examination of them by clergymen and others, and certificates and other papers drawn properly, in order that such churches and societies may be so organized as to have a legal corporate existence, which without any guide, such as this work is designed to be, would require the services of a lawyer. The statutes of the several states mentioned in the title-page relating to these subjects and to religious assemblies, and the duties of clergymen involved therein or affected thereby, have been carefully compiled, and notes and practical forms appended to the sections to which they relate for greater convenience, affording, as it is hoped, a complete guide in all those matters. In the chapter upon the Common Law of Marriage, which gives a general view of the subject, treating of the qualifications of persons to enter that state and the impediments thereto, I have quoted largely from Kent's Commentaries, Tyler's Infancy and Coverture, Bishop's Marriage and Divorce, Bingham's Law of Infancy and Coverture, as well as from the opinions and decisions of the courts in many important cases; and as the work is not intended for the legal profession, and the extracts made as above necessarily fragmentary, I do not give references. With these prefatory remarks the work is submitted to the public, and if it shall receive the approbation of those for whom it is intended, I shall be gratified. FEBRUARY 5, 1877. S. A. H. |