Common Law Marriage in Civil Law System

Name

Course

Instructor

Date

Common Law Marriage in Civil Law System

            In the civil law system, marriage laws fall under the private laws. Civil law systems therefore, contract civil marriages, and not common law marriages. In civil marriages, there is the involvement of an act of a civil servant, such as a magistrate, who oversees the legalization process of the marriage (Stahl 134). Common law marriage is therefore, illegal in a civil law system. Common law marriage is slowly fading away, as even only few common law systems contract it today. In the United States, the state of Louisiana, which is under the civil law system, does not contract common law marriages (Statsky 38). Similarly, countries that use the civil law system do not contract common law marriages. These countries contract civil marriages. However, common law marriage may be recognized by a civil law system, only if the couple contracted their marriage in a state that contracts and recognizes common law marriage (Lind 235). So far, there is no known civil law system state, which contracts common law marriage, as this would be considered as contravening their laws.

Absentee marriage is rare in most parts of the world. In the United States, only few states allow for absentee marriage. These are California, Montano, Texas, and Colorado (Wardle and Nolan 94). In this type of marriage, the legalization process is conducted in the presence of only one of the marriage couple, either the bride or the bridegroom. Therefore, in this case, it is not possible for both the bride and the bridegroom to be in the presence of the judge. However, this is done in the presence of a valid witness. Most marriages of this kind in the in the United States are allowed for members of the military, who are deployed or live in different locations. For the legalization of this marriage, a small fee is charged, as well as the necessary paperwork.

 

Works Cited

Lind, Goran. “Common Law Marriage: A Legal Institution for Cohabitation: A Legal Institution

for Cohabitation.” London: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Stahl, Friedrich. “Private Law.” New York: WordBridge Publishing, 2007.

Statsky, William. “Family Law: The Essentials.” New York: Cengage Learning, 2003.

Wardle, Lynn and Nolan, Laurence. Family Law in the USA. New Jersey: Kluwer Law

International, 2011.

 

 

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]