[237]. Œtas plena, or full age, regularly is one and twenty, Co. Litt 79. 103. 1 Hale Pl. c. 17. The Roman law makes it twenty-five, Institut. lib. 1. tit. 23. De Curatoribus. Dig. lib. 4. tit. 4. De Minoribus. Taylor’s Civil Law, 255, 256. In France it was thirty for males. Potier. In Holland 25.
[238]. Sir John Sebright informs us, that if a flock of sheep, in which there is any defect, are permitted to breed in and in, the defect will gradually increase among them; and Colonel Humphries, by selecting for breeding a marked variety, has succeeded in procuring a flock, all of them with deformed bones: upon these curious facts Dr. Adams makes the following remarks; “If the same causes operate in man, may we not impute to them many endemic peculiarities found in certain sequestered districts, which have hitherto been imputed to the water, and other localities? and may we not trace a provision against such a deterioration of the race, in that revealed law, by which any sexual intercourse between near relations is forbidden, on pain of death?”
[239]. If either of the parties be under the age of twenty-one, they cannot by their own consent alone contract marriage; they must have either an express consent in case of licence, or an implied consent by the banns not having been forbidden; but as banns may be and frequently are improperly published in churches far distant from the actual residence of the parties, their parents, or guardians, this precaution of the legislature offers but a precarious safeguard against clandestine marriages.
[240]. 32 Hen 8. c. 38. in part repealed by 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 23. but query how far revived by 26 Geo. 2. c. 33. See also 1 & 2 Ph. & M. c. 8. §. 20: and 1 Eliz. c. 1. §. 11.
[241]. From the age of seven to the age of twelve, as to the woman, and fourteen as to the man, they cannot contract marriage de præsenti, but only de futuro. Swinb. s. 7.
[242]. As to matrimonial contracts, the full age of consent in males is fourteen years, and of females, twelve; till that age they are said to be impuberes, and are not bound by matrimonial contracts; and with this also our law agrees; 1 Hale Pl. 17. Instit. Lib. 1. tit. 10. de nuptiis. Dig. Lib. 23. lit. 2. de ritu nuptiarum Co. Litt. 104. The statute of Merton, 20. Hen. 3. c. 6 (Co. Litt. 30). inflicts the loss of wardship and its benefits on such Lords as shall marry their wards within the age of fourteen years, et talis ætatis quod matrimonio consentire non possit. Yet a widow who had been married at seven, and at nine years old survived her husband, was held entitled to dower. Co. Litt. 33.
[243]. This case was cited in argument in Manby v. Scott. Siderf. p. 112. but it was allowed that the older writers Bracton, l. 5. 421. and Fleta, 434, 58, had held the contrary, and so does the law of the present day. See Co. Litt. 30. 80: Brouwer de jure Connubiorum.
[244]. 15 Geo. 2. c. 30. Co. Litt. 80. n.
[245]. Statutes. 32 Hen. 8. c. 38: 2 & 3 Ed. 6. c. 21: 5 & 6 Ed. 6. c. 12: 7 & 8 Wil. 3. c. 35: 10 Ann. c. 19. 26 G. 2. c. 33.
[246]. For further authorities see 4 Bacon Abr. 523. 15 Viner Abr. 252. Rolle’s Abr. tit. Bastard. 356.