Scotch Marriages. suffices if the name of the parties intending to contract matrimony are exhibited for seven consecutive days at the office of the parish registrar. A learned writer says: "It is a curious fact, though true, that there must always be in Scotland a considerable number of per sons who could not say off-hand whether they were married or not. It is only when the question has been decided in a court of law that these doubts can be removed." (F. P. Walton, Scotch Marriages, Regular and Irregular.) This arises from the irregular marriages which still occur there. Scot land is the only country in Europe where it is possible to be married without the pres ence of either a minister or a government official. The simplest form of irregular marriage consists in the mere expression by parties, who are free to marry, of their mutual consent to marry then and there. A witness is not necessary. A second way, now peculiar to Scotland, but in olden times fashionable and legal nearly all over Europe, is for a man to promise to marry a woman and she, relying on his promise, allowing him to cohabit with her; this is marriage, but must be proved by a written promise or admitted by the man in the witness box. The promise and the cohabitation must have been both in Scotland, although the people need not be Scotch. Another way is marriage by " habit and repute " : when a man and woman live together as husband and wife, " cohabit at bed and board," — the man according to the woman the respect due to a wife and not a mistress, — and they are regarded in the society in which they move as married persons, it is a reasonable and right presumption that they meant marriage and not concubinage, and the law recognizes the presumption. Many and interesting are the cases in the reports in which these irregular marriages are discussed. In every case, to be valid the consent of both parties to the marriage is essential, so there is little danger of innocent
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travelers falling into matrimony uninten tionally. . Maggie Wilson was the daughter of a fishing-tackle maker in Edinburgh; abaronet of forty, a bachelor, and rather disposed to dissipation, was intimate with the family; some neighbors thought he was getting too intimate. The old gentleman alluded to this one night, whereupon the baronet said he would shut the gossips' mouths, that he was poor and could not marry now, but would marry after the Scotch fashion. Then kneeling before the fair Maggie, a damsel of sweet sixteen, he took a ring out of his pocket, placed it on her th1rd finger, saying "Maggie, you are my wife before Heaven so help me God." The girl cried " Oh Major!" threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. All present drank their health and they were " bedded " in the old Scotch fashion. They lived together for some weeks after this performance and met on various occasions afterwards, but there was no continuous cohabitation. Some two years later the gallant major died and then Maggie sought to have their son, who had meanwhile appeared, declared his heir. The Court of Sessions said she was a true wife, but the Mouse of Lords differed and said she was not, and their lordships reached this conclusion mainly upon circumstantial proof that both parties by their behavior after the ceremony repudiated its force, and that neither in fact had been in earnest, although doubtless the ultimate maturing of matrimony had been hoped for and con fidently anticipated by Maggie and her friends (Stewart v. Robertson, L.R. 2, H.L. Le. 494). Old Giles Jacob in giving us the law in England in the middle of last century, says : "If a man say to a woman, ' I promise to marry thee and if thou art content to marry me, kiss me or give me thy hand; if the woman do kiss or give her hand, spousals are contracted. If a T1ng be solemnly de livered by a man and put on a woman's
