37:1-10 - Common law and other marriages without license; validity - New Jersey Statutes

37:1-10.  Common law and other marriages without license;  validity
    Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed or taken to render any common law or  other marriage, otherwise lawful, contracted before December first, nineteen  hundred and thirty-nine, invalid by reason of the failure to take out a license  as herein provided.  But no marriage contracted on and after December first,  nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, shall be valid unless the contracting parties  shall have obtained a marriage license as required by section 37:1-2 of this  Title, 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 section 37:1-13 of this Title 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.

     Amended by L.1939, c. 227, p. 624, s. 1, eff. July 18, 1939.