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O.C.G.A. § 19-3-48 — Penalty for officiating at illegal marriage ceremony | Georgia Code

O.C.G.A. § 19-3-48 (2018) Copy Cite Official Site Syfertize CourtListener Scholar Amendments

TITLE 19 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

Section 3. Marriage Generally, 19-3-1 through 19-3-68.

ARTICLE 2 LICENSE AND CEREMONY

19-3-48. Penalty for officiating at illegal marriage ceremony.

If the Governor or any former Governor of this state, any judge, city recorder, magistrate, minister, or other person authorized to perform the marriage ceremony joins together in matrimony any man and woman without a license or the publication of banns or if the person performing the marriage ceremony knows of any disability of either of the parties which would render a contract of marriage improper and illegal, that person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Cobb's 1851 Digest, pp. 818, 819; Code 1863, § 4441; Code 1868, § 4482; Code 1873, § 4566; Code 1882, § 4566; Penal Code 1895, § 637; Penal Code 1910, § 677; Code 1933, § 53-9901; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 19; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 4-1; Ga. L. 2010, p. 394, § 5/SB 238.)

Law reviews.

- For comment, "By the Power Vested in Me? Licensing Religious Officials to Solemnize Marriage in the Age of Same-Sex Marriage," see 63 Emory L. J. 979 (2014).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Officiant's knowledge as to foreign residence did not violate section.

- Fact that the license was issued by the ordinary (now probate judge) of a county in which the female did not reside would not in itself render the marriage illegal, and therefore the knowledge of this fact by the marrying official would not constitute a violation of law. Minshew v. State, 25 Ga. App. 240, 102 S.E. 906 (1920).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 55 C.J.S., Marriage, § 30.

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This Georgia Code resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a personal injury and workers' compensation attorney admitted in Georgia (State Bar of Georgia No. 881027, since 2006) and Florida. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.