In California, Colorado, Mississippi and West Virginia, there is no legal minimum age for marriage. In Texas, someone as young as fourteen can get married without parental consent if that person has been married and divorced previously.
Most of those laws weren’t “written”; they evolved from custom, and legislation crept in later. It’s strange to think of it, but by current standards, Romeo would be a pedophile and it wasn’t until the middle of the 18th century that England raised the age of consent for girls to thirteen (which also applied to the colonies). I recommend reading this book: Love, Sex and Christian Society in Medieval Europe by James A. Brundage. It details how almost all of the laws that exist today regarding sex, marriage and public morality are grounded in principles thousands of years old and ill-suited to modern times. Check out http://tinyurl.com/yo2vkg, which is based on the book.
McGehee about 13 years ago
@HectorPriam Then you just check into a cheap motel under an assumed name. And pay cash.
runar about 13 years ago
In California, Colorado, Mississippi and West Virginia, there is no legal minimum age for marriage. In Texas, someone as young as fourteen can get married without parental consent if that person has been married and divorced previously.
runar about 13 years ago
Most of those laws weren’t “written”; they evolved from custom, and legislation crept in later. It’s strange to think of it, but by current standards, Romeo would be a pedophile and it wasn’t until the middle of the 18th century that England raised the age of consent for girls to thirteen (which also applied to the colonies). I recommend reading this book: Love, Sex and Christian Society in Medieval Europe by James A. Brundage. It details how almost all of the laws that exist today regarding sex, marriage and public morality are grounded in principles thousands of years old and ill-suited to modern times. Check out http://tinyurl.com/yo2vkg, which is based on the book.