Marriage.—The courts of Australia, following the English courts, only recognize as a true marriage one which, in addition to being valid in other respects, involves the essential requirement that it is a voluntary union of one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others.
The law of the place where marriage is celebrated—that is, the lex loci celebrationis—alone guides the court in ascertaining whether or not a marriage is regular. All the formal preliminaries, such as the publication of banns, or license, the consent of the parties entitled to give or withhold consent and the solemn declaration of the contracting parties before competent authority, according to the law of the place of celebration, must be complied with.
Legal Age.—The legal age for marriage throughout the Commonwealth of Australia begins with fourteen years for a male and twelve years for a female.
Parental Consent.—In all of the States parental consent is required for the marriage of males and females under twenty-one years of age.
Banns or License.—Unless a marriage license is procured banns must be published in the parish in which the parties reside, and if they live in different parishes the banns must be published in each parish.
Where a man has caused the banns to be published or has procured a license under a false name or names, or has been married under a false name or names, he will not be allowed to annul the marriage on that account. A party cannot take advantage of his own fraud for the purpose of invalidating a marriage.
Consanguinity and Affinity.—The law considers it against public policy and morality, and contrary to the well-being of the parties, that persons closely related by blood or marriage should intermarry. Marriages are therefore prohibited between all ascendants and descendants, legitimate or illegitimate.
A man is also prohibited from marrying his stepmother, wife’s mother, stepdaughter, daughter-in-law, son’s daughter-in-law, daughter’s daughter-in-law, stepson’s daughter, stepdaughter’s daughter, niece by blood, niece by affinity, or nephew’s wife.
A woman is prohibited from marrying her uncle by blood or affinity, husband’s uncle, father-in-law, stepson, son-in-law, son’s son-in-law, daughter’s son-in-law, stepson’s son, stepdaughter’s son, nephew by blood or affinity, or niece’s husband.
Annulment of Marriage.—A marriage may be annulled in any of the States of the Commonwealth upon competent proof showing: