Marriage Issues
- In NJ, there is no statutory definition of a "marriage"; however,
certain marriages are prohibited by law.
- In 1996, the
Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") was enacted into law.
DOMA, a federal law, allows each state to choose whether or not
to recognize a same-sex union that is recognized in another state — thus allowing a choice of whether to enforce
the U.S. Constitution's “full faith and credit” clause (which requires each state to recognize the laws and
legal contracts of other states). DOMA also creates a federal definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
- Law Lessons from:
YAGHOUBINEJAD v. HAGHIGHI
(App. Div., A-207-05T5, approved for publication April 4, 2006):
N.J.S.A. 37:1-10 abolished common law marriages and further declared that
no marriage shall be valid after the effective date of the
statute [December 1, 1939] unless the parties obtain a marriage license.
N.J.S.A. 37:1-10 provides:
[N]o marriage contracted on and after
December first, nineteen hundred and thirtynine,
shall be valid unless the contracting
parties shall have obtained a marriage
license as required by [N.J.S.A.] 37:1-2 . .
., and unless, also, the marriage, after
license duly issued therefor, shall have
been performed by or before any person,
religious society, institution or
organization authorized by [N.J.S.A.] 37:1- 13 . . . to solemnize
marriages; and failure in any case to comply with both prerequisites aforesaid,
which shall always be construed as mandatory and not merely directory, shall
render the purported marriage absolutely void.
The Supreme Court has characterized the language of
N.J.S.A. 37:1-10 as "broad and sweeping and should not be
narrowly construed." Dacunzo v. Edgye, 19 N.J. 443, 450 (1955).
It also observed that the Legislature employed "unusually
peremptory terms." Ibid. Commenting on the language of
N.J.S.A. 37:1-10 that declares a non-conforming marriage
"absolutely void," the Court stated that "[i]t is axiomatic that
a void act has no validity from the beginning, and this is a
fortiori true where an act is declared 'absolutely void' by a
mandatory command of a statute." Ibid.
The statute accomplishes three things. First, it abolishes
common law marriage. Second, it requires that a license to
marry be procured before the ceremony. Third, it requires that
the marriage be solemnized by an authorized person or entity.
- How to get married in NJ:
- Can This Marriage Be Saved?
- Return to General Topic Index
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