MARKET. A public place appointed by public authority, where all sorts of things necessary for the subsistence, or for the conveniences of life, are sold.
2. Markets are generally regulated by local laws.
3. By the term market is also understood the demand there is for any particular article; as, the cotton market in Europe is dull. Vide 15 Vin. Ab. 42; Com. Dig. h. t.
MARKET OVERT2, Engl. law. Market overt is an open or public market; that is, a place appointed by law or custom for the sale of goods and chattels3 at stated times in public.
2. In London, every day except Sunday, is market day. In the country, particular days are fixed4 for market days. 2 Bl. Com. 449.
3. It is a general rule that sales of vendible5 articles made in market overt, are good not only between the parties, but are also binding6 on all those who have any property or right therein. Id. 2 Chitt. Com. Law, 148 to 154; Com. Dig. Market, E; Bac. Abr. Fairs and Market, E; 5 B. & A. 624; Dane's Abr. chap. 45, a 2.
4. There is no law recognizing the effect of a sale in market overt in Pennsylvania. 3 Yeates R. 347; 5 Serg. & Rawle, 130; in New York; 1 Johns, 480; in Massachusetts; 8 Mass. R. 521; 14 Mass. R. 500; in Ohio; 5 Ohio, R. 203; nor in Vermont. 1 Tyl. R. 341; nor indeed in any of the United States. 10 Pet. 161.
MARLEBRIDGE, STATUTE7 OF. The name of a statute passed the 52 Hen. III, A. D. 1267, so called because it was enacted8 at Marlebridge. Barr. on Stat. 58.
MARQUE AND REPRISAL9. The name given to a commission granted by the supreme10 power of a state to a private person for the purpose of seizing the property of a foreign state or its subjects. Wheat. Law of Nations, 340. Vide Letters of Marque.
MARRIAGE. A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint11 lives, in the union which ought io exist between husband and wife. By the terms freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful12 marriage. Dig. 23, 2, 1; Ayl. Parer. 359; Stair, Inst. tit. 4, s. 1; Shelford on Mar1. and Div. c. 1, s. 1.
2. To make a valid13 marriage, the parties must be willing to contract, Able to contract, and have actually contracted.
3. - 1. They must be willing to contract. Those persons, therefore, who have no legal capacity in point of intellect, to make a contract, cannot legally marry, as idiots, lunatics, and infant; males under the age of fourteen, and females under the age of twelve, and when minors14 over those ages marry, they must have the consent of their parents or guardians16.
4. There is no will when the person is mistaken in the party whom he intended to marry; as, if Peter intending to marry Maria, through error or mistake of person, in fact marries Eliza; but an error in the fortune, as if a man marries a woman whom he believes to be rich, and he finds her to be poor; or in the quality, as if he marry a woman whom he took to be chaste17, and whom he finds of an opposite character, this does not invalidate the marriage, because in these cases the error is only of some quality or accident, and not in the person. Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 9.
5. When the marriage is obtained by force or fraud, it is clear that there is no consent; it is, therefore, void ab initio, and may be treated as null by every court in which its validity may incidentally be called in question. 2 Kent, Com. 66; Shelf. on Marr. and Div. 199; 2 Hagg. Cons15. R. 246; 5 Paige, 43.
6. - 2. Generally, all persons who are of sound mind, and have arrived to years of maturity18, are able to contract marriage. To this general rule, however, there are many exceptions, among which the following may be enumerated19.
7. - 1. The previous marriage of the party to another person who is still living.
8. - 2. Consanguinity20, or affinity21 between the parties within the prohibited degree. It seems that persons in the descending22 or ascending23 line, however remote from each other, cannot lawfully24 marry; such marriages are against nature; but when we come to consider collaterals25, it is not so easy to fix the forbidden degrees, by clear and established principles. Vaugh. 206; S. C. 2 Vent26. 9. In several of the United States, marriages within the limited degrees are made void by statute. 2 Kent, Com. 79; Vide Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 7.
9. - 3. Impotency, (q. v.) which must have existed at the time of the marriage, and be incurable27. 2 Phill. Rep. 10; 2 Hagg. Rep. 832.
10. - 4. Adultery. By statutory provision in Pennsylvania, when a person is convicted of adultery with another person, or is divorced from her husband, or his wife, he or she cannot afterwards marry the partner of his or her guilt28. This provision is copied from the civil law. Poth. Contr. de Mariage, part 3, c. 3, art. 7. And the same provision exists in the French code civil, art. 298. See 1 Toull. n. 555.
11. - 3. The parties must not only be willing and able, but must have actually contracted in due form of law.
12. The common law requires no particular ceremony to the valid celebration of marriage. The consent of the parties is all that is necessary, and as marriage is said to be a contract jure gentium, that consent is all that is needful by natural or public law. If the contract be made per verba de presenti, or if made per verba de futuro, and followed by consummation, it amounts to a valid marriage, and which the parties cannot dissolve, if otherwise competent; it is not necessary that a clergyman should be present to give validity to the marriage; the consent of the parties may be declared before a magistrate29, or simply before witnesses; or subsequently confessed or acknowledged, or the marriage may even be inferred from continual cohabitation, and reputation as husband and wife, except in cases of civil actions for adultery, or public prosecutions30 for bigamy. 1 Silk. 119; 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 171; Burr. Settl. Cas. 509; 1 Dow, 148; 2 Dow, 482; 4 John. 2; 18 John. R. 346; 6 Binn, 405; 1 Penn. R. 452; 2 Watts31, R. 9. But a promise to marry at a future time, cannot, by any process of law, be converted into a marriage, though the breach32 of such promise will be the foundation of an action for damages.#p#副标题#e#
13. In some of the states, statutory regulations have been made on this subject. In Maine and Massachusetts, the marriage must be made in the presence, and with the assent33 of a magistrate, or a stated or ordained34 minister of the gospel. 7 Mass. Rep. 48; 2 Greenl. Rep. 102. The statute of Connecticut on this subject, requires the marriage to be celebrated35 by a clergyman or magistrate, and requires the previous publication of the intention of marriage, and the consent of parents; it inflicts36 a penalty on those who disobey its regulations. The marriage, however, would probably be considered valid, although the regulations of the statutes37 had not been observed. Reeve's Dom. Rel. 196, 200, 290. The rule in Pennsylvania is, that the marriage is valid, although the directions of the statute have not been observed. 2 Watts, Rep. 9; 1 How. S. C. R. 219. The same rule probably obtains in New Jersey38; 2 Halsted, 138; New Hampshire; 2 N. H. Rep. 268; and Kentucky. 3 Marsh39. R. 370. In Louisiana, a license40 must be obtained from the parish judge of the parish in which at least one of the parties is domiciliated, and the marriage must be celebrated before a priest or minister of a religious sect41, or an authorized42 justice of the peace; it must be celebrated in the presence of three witnesses of full age, and an act must be made of the celebration, signed by the person who celebrated the marriage, by the parties and the witnesses. Code, art. 101 to 107. The 89th article of the Code declares, that such marriages only are recognized by law, as are contracted and solemnized according to the rules which it prescribes. But the Code does not declare null a marriage not preceded by a license, and not evidenced by an act signed by a certain number of witnesses and the parties, nor does it make such an act exclusive evidence of the marriage. The laws relating to forms and ceremonies are directory to those who are authorized to celebrate marriage. 6 L. R. 470.
14. A marriage made in a foreign country, if good there, would, in general, be held good in this country, unless when it would work injustice43, or be contra bonos mores44, or be repugnant to the settled principles and policy of our laws. Story, Confl. of Laws, 87; Shelf. on M. & D. 140; 1 Bland45. 188; 2 Bland. 485; 3 John. Ch. R. 190; 8 Ala. R. 48.
15. Marriage is a contract intended in its origin to endure till the death of one of the contracting parties. It is dissolved by death or divorce.
16. In some cases, as in prosecutions for bigamy, by the common law, an actual marriage must be proved in order to convict the accused. See 6 Conn. R. 446. This rule is much qualified46. See Bigamy.
17. But for many purposes it may be proved by circumstances; for example, cohabitation; acknowledgment by the parties themselves that they were married; their reception as such by their friends and relations; their correspondence, on being casually47 separated, addressing each other as man and wife; 2 Bl. R. 899; declaring, deliberately48, that the marriage took place in a foreign country; 2 Moo. & R. 503; describing their children, in parish registers of baptism, as their legitimate49 offspring; 2 Str. 1073; 8 Ves. 417; or when the parties pass for husband and wife by common reputation. 1 Bl. R. 639; S. C. 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 174; Cowp. 594; 3 Swans. R. 400; 8 S. & R. 159; 2 Hayw. R. 3; 1 Taylor, R. 121; 1 H. & McH. 152; 2 N. & McC. 114; 5 Day, R. 290; 4 R. & M. 507; 9 Mass. R. 414; 4 John. 52; 18 John. 346. After their death, the presumption50 is generally conclusive51. Cowp. 591; 6 T. R. 330.
18. The civil effects of marriage are the following: 1. It confirms all matrimonial agreements between the parties.
19. - 2. It vests in the husband all the personal property of the wife, that which is in possession absolutely, and choses in action, upon the condition that he shall reduce them to possession; it also vests in the husband right to manage the real estate of the wife, and enjoy the profits arising from it during their joint lives, and after her death, an estate by the curtesy when a child has been born. It vests in the wife after the husband's death, an estate in dower in the husband's lands, and a right to a certain part of his personal estate, when he dies intestate. In some states, the wife now retains her separate property by statute.
20. - 3. It creates the civil affinity which each contracts towards the relations of the other.
21. - 4. It gives the husband marital52 authority over the person of his wife.
22. - 5. The wife acquires thereby53 the name of her husband, as they are considered as but one, of which he is the head: erunt duo in carne unÉ.
23. - 6. In general, the wife follows the condition of her husband.
24. - 7. The wife, on her marriage, loses her domicil and gains that of her husband.
25. - 8. One of the effects of marriage is to give paternal54 power over the issue.
26. - 9. The children acquire the domicil of their father.
27. - 10. It gives to the children who are the fruits of the marriage, the rights of kindred not only with the father and mother, but all their kin55.
28. - 11. It makes all the issue legitimate.
Vide, generally, 1 Bl. Com. 433; 15 Vin. Ab. 252; Bac. Ab. h. t.; Com. Dig. Baron56 and Feme, B; Id. Appx. b. t.; 2 Sell. Pr. 194; Ayl. Parergon, 359; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 94; Rutherf. Inst. 162; 2 Supp. to Ves. jr. 334; Roper on Husband & Wife; Poynter on Marriage and Divorce; Merl. Räpert. h. t.; Pothier, TraitÇ du Contrat de Marriage; Toullier, h. t.; Chit. Pract. Index, h. t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h. t., Burge on the Confl. of Laws, Index, h. t.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.