[448] The prescribed notice is in the following form:
"Know all Men by these Presents, that A. B. of —— and C. D. of —— have declared unto me their Intention of Marriage: I do therefore hereby make public the said Intention. If any Person knows any just Cause or Impediment why these Two Persons shall not be joined together in Marriage, they may declare the same as the Law directs. Given under my Hand and Seal at —— this —— Day of —— Anno Domini ——."—Acts and Laws (Newport 1767,), 172, 173.
[449] The marriage certificate is in the following form:
"I Hereby certify, That A. B. of —— Son of —— and C. D. of —— Daughter of —— were lawfully joined together in Marriage on the —— Day of —— Anno Domini —— by me the Subscriber."
[450] Acts and Laws (Newport, 1767), 172-75.
[451] See the case of Usher v. Troop (Throop), 1724-29, in MSS. Records of the Superior Court of Judicature (Mass.), 1725-30, folio 236. In 1724 John Usher, of Bristol, a minister of the Church of England, convicted in the inferior court of common pleas of marrying a couple without certificate of the town clerk, was fined 50 pounds and "forever thereafter disabled to Joyn Persons in Marriage." On appeal it was found: "If the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical of the Church of England are sufficient to support the Appellant here, in Joyning Persons together in Marriage without such certificate.... Then the Jury say the Applt is not Guilty; otherwise they say he is Guilty." The appeal was finally dismissed (1729) on default of the "appellee."
[452] See chap. xviii, i.
[453] "Il y avait même un tel mélange de la religion à toutes les circonstances de la vie civile, que la législation, en certaines matières, en référait à la Bible qui était, pour ainsi dire, le corpus juris des émigrants dans la Nouvelle-Angleterre. La famille, où ils avaient puisé le sentiment religieux, était forte parce qu'elle était unie; et le père, qui ressemblait en quelque sorte au patriarche d'autrefois, avait une autorité incontestée qu'on aimait, car elle était composée de bienveillance et de justice."—Carlier, Le mariage aux États-Unis, 7, 8.
[454] "Between these two extreme views—that of marriage as merely a civil contract and marriage as a sacrament—stands that of the Jewish law. The act of concluding marriage is there certainly also considered as a contract, which requires the consent of both parties and the performance of certain formalities, similar to other contracts, and which, under certain circumstances, can be dissolved. But, inasmuch as marriage concerns a relation which is based on morality and implies the most sacred duties, it is more than a mere civil contract."—Mielziner, The Jewish Law of Marriage and Divorce, 25, 26. But "the presence of a rabbi or minister is, according to the Talmudic Law, not required at the betrothal or the nuptials. The prescribed benedictions were pronounced either by the bridegroom or by any of the friends present. Such was also the Jewish custom during the Middle Ages."—Ibid., 84. Cf. Amram, The Jewish Law of Divorce, 39.
[455] See Shirley's comments on the Cutt Code, "Early Jurisprudence of New Hampshire," Procds. New Hamp. Hist. Soc. (1876-84), 273 ff.