Hi All: To muddy the waters further, Malcolm's note raises an interesting point. As I understand it, the NS SOLEMNIZATION of Marriage Act gives ages of 19/16 as the required age for solemnization of a marriage, without/with parental consent. But as I understand it, in NS, common-law marriage has always been, and continues to be recognized, so here is a hypothetical question. Supposing a 15 year old male enters into a common-law marriage with a 13 year old female (a little bit hard to do in today's world). I believe that, under NS law, they must cohabit for two years for the marriage to be recognized. So, when he is 17 and she is 15, is that a valid common-law marriage? The only thing I could find on the subject was this passage: "Provincial marriage acts provide details on the legal age required for marriage. Generally, marriages of males below the age of 15 are voidable and below the age of 12 for girls." I think I recall reading somewhere that in the 1800's the age for males was 14 and 12 for females. -----Bob H----- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Noble" <nobler@accesswave.ca> To: "Malcolm Moody" <malcolm@archivecdbooks.ca>; <NOVA-SCOTIA@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 10:29 AM Subject: Re: [NS-L] Marriage Solemnized - Continuing > >> I wonder if you might be getting "hung up" (for want of a better >> phrase) on the word "marriage" without remembering that a couple marry >> by the act of cohabiting. > > The marriage record says that they married by License. That simply means > that a license was issued. > The thing to do then, is to look at the film at the N.S. Archives and view > the actual marriage slip. > Perhaps I will do that on my next trip. > > We can speculate as to all kinds of possibilities, but lets base them on > some facts shall we?? > ---------------------------------------- > Basic List Commands: > > 1. To post to the list > Send a message to: > NOVA-SCOTIA-L@rootsweb.com > > 2. How to unsubscribe > a. List mode: Send a message to NOVA-SCOTIA-L- > request@rootsweb.com that contains only the word > unsubscribe > > b. Digest mode: Send a message to NOVA-SCOTIA-D- > request@rootsweb.com that contains only the word > unsubscribe > > 3. How to subscribe > Send an email containing only the word > subscribe > to NOVA-SCOTIA-L-request@rootsweb.com > > 4. How to change to Digest mode > a. Unsubscribe from List mode (2.a. above) > b. Subscribe to Digest mode > Send an email containing only the word > subscribe > to NOVA-SCOTIA-D-request@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NOVA-SCOTIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 269.5.2/766 - Release Date: 4/18/2007 > 7:39 AM > >

----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Hegerich" Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 10:53 AM Subject: Re: [NS-L] Marriage Solemnized - Continuing > Hi All: > > To muddy the waters further, Malcolm's note raises an interesting point. > > As I understand it, the NS SOLEMNIZATION of Marriage Act gives ages of > 19/16 > as the required age for solemnization of a marriage, without/with parental > consent. Date of NS Marriage Act you are referring to? I know it was definately age 21 on 24th December 1966, as I had to obtain written permission from my parents to marry. I married on the last day of my 19th year, in St Joseph's Cathedral, Russell St., Halifax NS. > But as I understand it, in NS, common-law marriage has always > been, and continues to be recognized, so here is a hypothetical question. > Again what time frame are you referring to? > Supposing a 15 year old male enters into a common-law marriage with a 13 > year old female (a little bit hard to do in today's world). I believe > that, > under NS law, they must cohabit for two years for the marriage to be > recognized. So, when he is 17 and she is 15, is that a valid common-law > marriage? The only thing I could find on the subject was this passage: > I'm not sure about the rest of Canada, but do know when common-law unions were finally recognized in Ontario, the original time the couple had to be living together was 2 years. Anything under that was not recognized as a 'marriage'. Then the time was lowered to 6 months and I believe it is now 3 months. I know of many cases, in recent years, where the couple have been under the 6 month mark when they split, with the household effects / pensions etc divided equally, just as they would be in a legally sanctioned church (etc) marriage. I mean both parties have a lawyer to settle the differences, divide possessions. It has been my understanding that this is not just an Ontario 'thing', that it is a Federal enactment, therefore would be all across Canada, with possible exception being Quebec. For the most part, Quebec the laws have always been a little different than the rest of Canada. > "Provincial marriage acts provide details on the legal age required for > marriage. Generally, marriages of males below the age of 15 are voidable > and > below the age of 12 for girls." I think I recall reading somewhere that > in > the 1800's the age for males was 14 and 12 for females. I've never heard this was the case in Canada, although it is perhaps possible some early 1800(s) Scottish settlers did have in their midst a young married couple around these ages. I tend to doubt it, primarily due to Canada coming under English law from c1758+ ... unless they had already wed in Scotland, prior to arriving in Canada. In fact for the most part, at least in the families (in NS, PEI & NB) I've looked at, the couples generally had a tendency to marry when much older. Most of our females were well into their 20s, with the males being of equal age of bride and/or much older, when they wed. Post-1900 marriages within our families have had some younger brides and I know positively of two cases where the bride was only 16 and parental permission had to be given; one c1930, the other c1952. In the pre-1800 era, 12 & 14 were the ages in Scotland, though later (mid-late1800s) was upped to females 14, males 16. We have a case in my mother's paternal line c1798, where the bride was 12, the groom 18. Bride continued to live with her family until she was 17y. Groom was in the military, spending much time away from home (Info from diary, family bible, service records giving details of his postings, plus confirming parents'/wife's names). We've another in mother's maternal line, in 1907. Bride was 16, groom 18. They were not allowed to marry under the 'normal' circumstances, but had to get a Sherriff's Warrant (special licence) to do so, even though neither set of parents objected the marriage. Daughter of the couple told me, the story her mother had told her about the difficulty they had in getting permission to wed .. they feared their [son] would be born before the ceremony would be preformed! Just why they weren't allowed to wed when their parents were in consent, plus under Scottish law they legally could have, I've not been able to find out. Neither had been wed before. You often find when the bride was in the 12-14 age group, the marriage wasn't consumated until bride reached the age of at least 16, as usually the reasons for the marriage were materialistic in nature, having nothing to do with 'love'. Parents of the bride negotiated the 'deal' (with groom and/or his parents), not the bride herself. Remember in Canada, we followed English law/rule from c1758+. English law and Scottish law differed, even after the Act of Union. Toni ~ Ontario

Hi All: Let's take these one at a time. But before responding to the note below let me point out that, in Canada, in 1890, the age of consent for females was raised from 12 to 14. So, in the 1840's which was the time period referred to in the original question, this would seem to imply that any female age 12 or over could enter into a common-law marriage. Yes/No/Maybe? > Date of NS Marriage Act you are referring to? I know it was definately > age > 21 on 24th December 1966, as I had to obtain written permission from my > parents to marry. I married on the last day of my 19th year, in St > Joseph's > Cathedral, Russell St., Halifax NS. The date of the NS Solemnization of Marraige Act in NS is 1989. But the original question wasn't the legal age for a solemnized marriage in 1966, it was (if I can remember that far back)--what was the age at which one could marry in the 1840's. As Malcolm has pointed out there are two type of marriages legally recognized in Canada--solemnized and common-law. Every document I can find seems to indicate that NS has always recognized common-law marriage. Someone please correct me if that's wrong. :-) > Again what time frame are you referring to? 1748 - 2007, but I am more intersted in the 1840's which was the original question. [As to current Canadian law, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage] > I've never heard this was the case in Canada, although it is perhaps > possible some early 1800(s) Scottish settlers did have in their midst a > young married couple around these ages. I tend to doubt it, primarily due > to Canada coming under English law from c1758+ ... unless they had already > wed in Scotland, prior to arriving in Canada. Hmmmmm. It is my understanding that genuine (that is, legal) common-law marriage was, for practical purposes, abolished in England under the Marriage Act of 1753. So, if NS was bound by English law, how do you explain the existence of common-law marriage in NS from 1753-2007? -----Bob H-----