proceedings to establish the paternity of the child, in full settlement of all obligations for the care, maintenance and education of such child; and shall hold or dispose of the same as ordered by said court. Such settlement shall discharge the father of all further liability, civil and criminal, on account of such child; provided that such settlement shall not affect any liability of the father under section 3219; and provided that this section shall not apply to any case where a judgment of paternity has been entered pursuant to the provisions of this statute.

Approved April 23, 1921.

3225. (b) Clerk to report name of adjudged father.Upon the entry of a judgment determining the paternity of an illegitimate child the clerk of the district court shall notify in writing the state registrar of vital statistics of the name of the person against whom such judgment has been entered, together with such other facts disclosed by his records as may assist in identifying the record of the birth of the child as the same may appear in the office of said registrar. If such judgment shall thereafter be vacated that fact shall be reported by the clerk in like manner.

3225. (c) Physician may testify. In any proceeding under this chapter a licensed physician or surgeon may testify concerning the fact and probable date of inception of the pregnancy of his patient without her consent, and shall so testify when duly called as a witness.

3225. (d) Purpose of act.-This chapter shall be liberally construed with a view to effecting its purpose, which is primarily to safeguard the interests of illegitimate children and secure for them the nearest possible approximation to the care, support and education that they would be entitled to receive if born of lawful marriage, which purpose is hereby acknowledged and declared to be the duty of the state; and also to secure from the fathers of such children repayment of public moneys necessarily expended in connection with their birth.

3225. (e) Records private.-All records of court proceedings in cases of alleged illegitimacy shall be withheld from inspection by, and copies thereof shall not be furnished to, persons other than the parties in interest and their attorneys, except upon order of the court.

Sec. 2. The provisions of this act are severable one from another and in their application to the persons and interests affected thereby. The judicial declaration of the invalidity of any provision, or the application thereof, shall not affect the validity of any other provision, or the application thereof.

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of January, 1918.

B. Inheritance of Illegitimate Minors.

7240. Illegitimate child. An illegitimate child shall inherit from his mother the same as if born in lawful wedlock, and also from the person who, in writing and before a competent attesting witness, shall have declared himself to be his father; but such child shall not inherit from the kindred of either parent by right of representation, unless during his lifetime his parents inter-marry, in which case he shall no longer be deemed illegitimate. (3650)

7241. Estate of illegitimate child. If any illegitimate child dies intestate and without lawful issue, his estate shall descend to his mother, or, in case of her prior decease, to her heirs at law. (3651)

C. Legitimation.

7105. Illegitimate children. — Illegitimate children shall become legitimatized by the subsequent marriage of their parents to each other, and the issue of marriages declared null in law shall nevertheless be legitimate. (3568)

CHAPTER X.

General Marriage Laws.

7089. Who capable of contracting.-Every male person who has attained the full age of eighteen years, and every female person who has attained the full age of fifteen years, is capable in law of contracting marriage, if otherwise competent. (3553)

7090. Marriages prohibited. No marriage shall be contracted while either of the parties has a husband or wife living; nor within six months after either has been divorced from a former spouse; nor between parties who are nearer of kin than second cousins, whether of the half or whole blood, computed by the rules of the civil law; nor between persons either one of whom is epileptic, imbecile, feeble-minded or insane. (R. L. § 3554, amended '11 c. 222 § 1)

7091. By whom solemnized.-Marriages may be solemnized by any justice of the peace in the county in which he is elected, and throughout the state by any judge of a court of record, the superintendent of the department for the deaf and dumb, in the state school for the deaf and blind, or any licensed or ordained minister of the gospel in regular communion with a religious society. (3555)

7092. Credentials of minister.-Ministers of the gospel, before they are authorized to perform the marriage rite, shall file a copy of their credentials of license or ordination with the clerk of the district court of some county in this state, who shall record the same and give a certificate thereof; and the place where such credentials are recorded shall be indorsed upon and recorded with each certificate of marriage granted by a minister. (3556)

7093. Parties examined.-Every person authorized by law to perform the marriage ceremony, before solemnizing any marriage, may examine the parties on oath, which oath he is authorized to administer, as to the legality of such intended marriage, and no such person shall solemnize a marriage unless he is satisfied that there is no legal impediment thereto. (3557)

7094. License.-Before any persons shall be joined in marriage, a license shall be obtained from the clerk of the district court of the county in which the woman resides, or, if not a resident of this state, then from such clerk of the county where the marriage is to take place in this state.

(3558)

7095. Examination-License-Consent of parents.-The clerk shall examine upon oath the party applying for a license, relative to the legality of such contemplated marriage, and, if satisfied that there

is no legal impediment thereto, he shall issue such license, with his official seal attached, and make a record thereof. If any person intending to marry shall be under age, and shall not have had a former husband or wife, such license shall not be issued unless the consent of the parents or guardians shall be personally given before the clerk, or certified under the hand of such parents or guardians, attested by two witnesses, one of whom shall appear before such clerk and make oath that he saw said. parents or guardians subscribe, or heard them acknowledge, the same. The clerk shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars for administering the oath, and issuing, recording, and filing all papers required. Any clerk who shall knowingly issue or sign a marriage license in any other manner than in this section provided shall forfeit and pay for the use of the parties aggrieved not to exceed one thousand dollars. (3559)

7096.

Form not essential.-In the solemnization of marriage, no particular form shall be required, except that the parties shall declare in the presence of the judge, minister, or magistrate and the attending witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife; and in every case there shall be at least two witnesses present besides the person performing the ceremony. (3560)

7097. Certificate given. The person solemnizing a marriage shall give to each of the parties a certificate thereof, specifying therein the names and residences of the parties, and of at least two of the witnesses present, and the time and place of the marriage. (3561)

7098. Record and certificate.-Every person solemnizing a marriage shall make a record thereof, and within one month make and file with the clerk of the district court of the county in which the license was issued a certificate, under his hand, containing the facts mentioned in § 7097, which certificate shall be filed and recorded by said clerk in a book kept by him for that purpose; and said clerk shall be entitled to receive twenty-five cents for recording said certificate from the person offering the same for record. (R. L. § 3562, amended '09 c. 386 § 1)

7100. Penalty for failure. Every person solemnizing a marriage who shall neglect to make and deliver to the clerk a certificate thereof within the time above specified shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars, and every clerk who neglects to record such certificate shall forfeit a like sum.

(3563)

7101. Illegal marriage- False certificate. If any person authorized by law to join persons in marriage shall knowingly solemnize any marriage contrary to the provisions of this chapter, or wilfully make any false certificate of any marriage or pretended marriage, he shall forfeit for every such offense a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or may be imprisoned not exceeding one year. (3564)

7106. What marriages void. All marriages which are prohibited by law on account of consanguinity, or on account of either party having a former husband or wife then living, if solemnized within this state, shall be absolutely void, without any decree of divorce or other legal proceedings: Provided, that if any person whose husband or wife has been absent for five successive years, without being known to such person to be living during that time, marries during the lifetime of such absent husband or wife, the marriage shall be void only from the time that its nullity is duly adjudged. (3569)

7107. What voidable. When either party to a marriage is incapable of assenting thereto for want of age or understanding, or when the consent of either has been obtained by force or fraud, and there is no subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties, the marriage may be annulled at the suit of the injured party, and shall be void from the time its nullity is adjudged. (3570)

7108. Action to annul.-When the validity of a marriage is disputed for any of the causes mentioned in §§ 7106, 7107, either party may begin an action in the district court of the county where either resides, to annul the same. In such action the complaint shall be filed and proceedings had thereon as in actions for divorce, and, upon due proof of the nullity of the marriage, it shall be adjudged null and void. (3571)

7109. When not annulled.-No marriage shall be adjudged a nullity on the ground that one of the parties was under the age of legal consent if it appears that the parties had voluntarily cohabited together as husband and wife after having attained such age; nor shall the marriage of any insane person be adjudged void after his restoration to reason, if it appears that the parties freely cohabited together as husband and wife after such restoration. (3572)

7110. Not at suit of party capable. No marriage shall be adjudged a nullity at the suit of the party capable of contracting, on the ground that the other party was under the age of legal consent, or was idiotic or insane, if such idiocy or insanity was known to the party capable of contracting at the time of such marriage. (3573)