In Virginia bigamy was formerly punished by death: see the act of 1792, in Acts of Gen. Assem. (1794), 205; now the penalty is three to five years' imprisonment: Code (1887), 680; in West Virginia it is one to five years in the penitentiary: Code (1891), 918; in Florida, not exceeding five years in state's prison, or not exceeding one year in the county jail, or a fine of not more than $500: Rev. Stat. (1892), 820; in Missouri, not exceeding five years in the penitentiary, or less than six months in the county jail, or not less than $500, or by both a fine of not more than $100 and imprisonment in the county jail for not less than three months: Rev. Stat. (1899), I, 608, 609. Bigamy is prohibited in Rev. Civil Stat. of Tex. (1888), I, 877; White, Penal Code (1901), 188; Digest of Ark. (1894), 1126.
[1338] In Texas they are prohibited and punished "when the female is abducted or forced into marriage;" but they are voidable when the license has been fraudulently obtained: Wright, Report, 43; Rev. Civil Stat. of Tex. (1888), I, 877, note; see Robertson v. Cole, 12 Texas, 356. Cf. Wilson, Supp. to Criminal Statutes (1900), 242, 243.
[1339] See, for example, Kentucky Stat. (1894), 764; ibid. (1901), 822; Digest of Ark. (1894), 1126; Moore, Code of D. C. (1902), 265.
[1340] In North Carolina marriages are void when either person is "incapable of contracting from want of will or understanding": Code (1883), I, 688, 689; in South Carolina they are void or voidable when lacking consent of either party or for "any other cause going to show that at the time said supposed contract was made it was not a contract," provided not consummated by cohabitation: Rev. Stat. (1894), I, 752.
[1341] Kentucky Stat. (1894), 763; Rev. Sta., of S. C. (1894), I, 750-52; Code of Ga. (1896), II, 222; Code of Va. (1887), 560; Code of W. Va. (1891), 612; Code of N. C. (1883), I, 688, 689; Digest of Ark. (1894), 1126; Code of Ala. (1896), I, 828; Comp. Laws of N. M. (1897), 406, 407.
[1342] In Kentucky marriages are void or voidable when not solemnized or contracted in the presence of an authorized person or society; but they are not so invalid if consummated with the belief of the parties or either of them that they have been lawfully married: Wright, Report, 39.
The Louisiana act of 1807 makes one who is deaf and dumb from "nativity" incapable of marriage, "unless it be previously proved to the satisfaction of the judge ... that such person is capable of giving a rational consent." So also "criminals definitively sentenced to death" are incapable until pardoned; and "persons sentenced to whipping, imprisonment, pillory, or other infamous punishment" are prohibited from marrying, "until such punishment has been inflicted, or the offender pardoned."—Lislet, Gen. Digest (1828), II, 4, 5.
[1343] By the statute of Tennessee marriage is prohibited between white persons and "negroes, mulattoes, or persons of mixed blood, descended from a negro to the third generation inclusive, or their living together as man and wife." Violation of the act is made a felony punishable by confinement in the penitentiary for a period of one to five years; though, on recommendation of the jury, the court may substitute a fine and imprisonment in the county jail: Code (1884), 608; ibid. (1896), 1038.
The law of Alabama is in substance the same; although to the clause prohibiting intermarriage "to the third generation inclusive," the Code, sec. 4018, when affixing the penalty, adds the words, "though one ancestor of each generation was a white person": see Code of Ala. (1897), II, 381; Wright, Report, 36.
[1344] In 1810 the Virginia act of 1753, chap. 2, secs. 14, 15, for the prevention of that "abominable mixture and spurious issue," was still in force: Stat. Law of Ky. (1810), II, 572.