In British Columbia an appeal may be taken to the courts if consent is refused by parent or guardian.
Celebration.—Marriages may be solemnized by duly qualified clergymen of every religious denomination, or by a judge, justice of the peace or other magistrate.
Unless banns are published a license must be produced for each marriage, and can only be obtained from the proper local authority upon affidavit or declaration of one of the parties to the intended marriage, showing that no legal impediment exists and that the proper consents have been obtained.
The competency of a Protestant minister to marry two Roman Catholics in the Province of Quebec was called in question by the leading case of Delphit v. Coté, reported in the Quebec Reports, 20 S. C. 338. The plaintiff, who had been baptized as a member of the Roman Catholic Church, was married to the defendant, who, at the time at least, professed the same belief, by a minister of a Protestant denomination, by virtue of a license issued in due form. Subsequently an ecclesiastical court of the Catholic Church declared the marriage null on the ground that two Roman Catholics could only be married by a Roman Catholic priest. Upon appealing to the civil court for an annulment of the marriage because of the ecclesiastical decree, it was held that the ecclesiastical court was entirely without jurisdiction and that the marriage was in all legal respects good and binding.
Marriages with Indians.—A Christian who marries an aboriginal native or Indian cannot exercise in Canada the right of divorce or repudiation of his wife at will, although following the usages of the tribe or “nation” to which his Indian wife belongs such divorces and repudiations are customary and regular.
Annulment of Marriage.—In any of the Provinces, or in Newfoundland, the courts may annul marriages on the ground of fraud, mistake, coercion, duress or lunacy.
Foreign Marriages.—The courts of Canada and Newfoundland recognize a marriage concluded in a foreign country as valid if it was performed in accordance with the laws of the foreign country, if each person was competent to marry, according to the laws of the country of his and her citizenship, and if the marriage was not in violation of the general laws and usages of Christendom.
Ontario.—The High Court of Justice in this Province has jurisdiction where a marriage correct in form is ascertained to be void de jure by reason of the absence of some essential preliminary to declare the same null and void ab initio; but nothing short of the most clear and convincing testimony will justify the interposition of the court.
As we have observed before, there is no divorce court in the Province.
Every married woman is entitled to hold and alienate as her separate property all wages and profits acquired by her in any separate occupation which she may conduct on her separate account.