Tennessee Code Annotated

Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-3-303 (2026)

Return of license to clerk - Penalty for failure to return - Society of Friends

✓ current as of May 2026

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(a) One authorized by § 36-3-301 who solemnizes the rite of matrimony shall endorse on the license the fact and time of the marriage, and sign the license, and return it to the county clerk within three (3) days from the date of marriage. Every person who fails to make such return of the license commits a Class C misdemeanor.

(b) The functions, duties and liabilities of the party solemnizing marriage as set forth in this part shall, in the case of marriages solemnized among the Religious Society of Friends, be incumbent upon the clerk of the congregation, or in the clerk's absence, the clerk's duly designated alternate.

Code 1858, § 2443 (deriv. Acts 1815, ch. 47, § 1); Acts 1879, ch. 98, § 2; 1889, ch. 134, § 2; 1915, ch. 109, §§ 1, 2; Shan., § 4193; mod. Code 1932, § 8421; Acts 1963, ch. 68, § 1; 1970, ch. 440, § 2; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 36-417; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1997–2020 · leading case: Aghili v. Saadatnejadi, 958 S.W.2d 784 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997).

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Aghili v. Saadatnejadi, 958 S.W.2d 784 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 5× “Tenn.Code Ann. § 36-3-301(a) provides, in part, that “[a]ll regular ministers of the gospel of every denomination, and Jewish rabbis, more than eighteen (18) years of age, having the care of souls .”

Universal Life Church Monastery Storehouse v. Nabors (M.D. Tenn. 2020). · cites it 4× “is nevertheless concerned that its ministers face the threat of criminal liability were they to perform marriages in this state because Tennessee law requires (1) “that a person who solemnizes a marriage endorse the marriage license and return it to the county clerk within three…”

George Grant v. Elaine Anderson, Clerk Of Williamson Cnty. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 3× “See Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 36-3-303 , - 305. But their challenge stems from a hypothetical scenario: that there are “no valid marriage license[s] by which Minister Plaintiffs are authorized to solemnize th[e] marriage[s].”

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