Marriage.—Males under fourteen years of age and females under twelve years cannot contract a lawful marriage.
All persons, male or female, under twenty-one years of age, who have not previously contracted a lawful marriage, require the consent of their parents or guardians in order to marry. However, the marriage of males fourteen years of age or more, or of females twelve years of age or more, without the consent of parents or guardians, does not make such marriage ipso facto void.
Parental consent to a marriage of a minor must be given by the father, if living and competent to act; if not, then by the following persons in the order stated: (a) the duly appointed guardian; (b) the mother if she has not married again; (c) or a guardian specially appointed by a court exercising chancery powers.
No person can contract a new marriage who has a spouse by an existing marriage still living.
Consanguinity and Affinity.—Marriage is forbidden between all ascendants and descendants ad infinitum and between persons related to each other by blood or marriage within the third degree, according to the method of computation of the civil law. According to this reckoning a person cannot marry a relative nearer than his or her own first cousin.
Preliminaries.—Notice of a proposed marriage must be given to the registrar of the district in which one of the parties has resided for three days at least. If the contracting parties live in different districts notice must be given to the registrars of both districts. Such notice must set forth the names, ages, status and occupations of each party, together with their addresses, a statement of the period each party has lived in the district, and the name and place of the church, chapel or other building selected by the parties for the solemnization of the marriage. The parties must also make solemn declaration to the registrar or registrars to the truth of all statements of fact in said notice and show that there is no legal impediment to the proposed marriage.
Upon receiving the notice in due form the registrar will issue a certificate at once addressed to any officiating minister, or to himself, authorizing the solemnization of the marriage. All marriages must be registered, and the officiating minister or officer who fails to have the record made is subject to punishment.
Ordinarily, the best proof of a marriage is to produce the marriage certificate, together with proof identifying the parties, but if the record is lost, destroyed or never existed proof of the marriage may be given by direct oral evidence.
In most instances it is necessary to produce clear evidence of a marriage ceremony, but in some exceptional cases a marriage may be proved by long reputation. That is, if two persons live together as husband and wife for many years, and if they have always been regarded as such by their friends and neighbours, the courts will presume a legal marriage unless evidence is produced to prove that the parties were not lawfully married.
Divorce.—An absolute divorce may be obtained according to the provisions of the Divorce and Matrimonial Compilation Act of 1904 by a husband or wife who has been domiciled in the Dominion of New Zealand for two years or upwards on the following grounds: