LAWS OF THE OF NEW YORK. STATE OF VOLUME II. REGULAR PASSED AT THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH Chap. 339. AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to mar riages. Became a law, April 12, 1901, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Section ten of article two of chapter two hundred and seventy-two of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-six, entitled "An act relating to the domestic relations, constituting chapter forty-eight of the general laws," is hereby amended to read as follows: § 10. Marriage a civil contract; effect of this article.-Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned continues to be a civil contract, to which the consent of parties capable in law of making a contract is essential. A lawful marriage contracted in the manner and pursuant to the regulations of a religious society to which either party belongs, is as valid as if this article had not been enacted. § 2. Section eleven of said article is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 11. How a marriage must be solemnized.-A marriage must be solemnized by either: 1. A clergyman or minister of any religion, or the leader of the Society for Ethical Culture in the city of New York; 2. A mayor, recorder, alderman, police justice or police magistrate of a city; 3. A justice or judge of a court of record, or of a municipal court, a justice of the peace; or 4. A written contract of marriage signed by both parties, and at least two witnesses who shall subscribe the same, stating the place of residence of each of the parties and witnesses and the.date and place of marriage, and acknowledged by the parties and witnesses in the manner required for the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real estate to entitle the same to be recorded. Such contract shall be filed within six months after its execution in the office of the clerk of the town or city in which the marriage was solemnized. The word "clergyman," when used in the following sections of this article, includes any person referred to in the first subdivision of this section; the word "magistrate," when so used, includes any person referred to in the second or third subdivision. § 3. Section fifteen of said article is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 15. Filing and entry of a certificate or contract. On the presentation of such certificate signed by such magistrate or clergyman, or of such contract, within six months after the marriage, to the clerk of the city or town in which the marriage was solemnized or in which either party resided at the time of the marriage or resides when the certificate or contract is presented, such clerk must file in his office and enter in a book kept by him for that purpose in the alphabetical order of the initial letter of the surname of each party and in the order of time in which the certificate is filed: 1. The names and places of residence of the persons married. 2. The time and place of marriage. 3. The name and official station of the person signing the certificate. 4. The date of filing the certificate or contract. § 4. Section sixteen of said article is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 16. Certificate, contract, entry and copies evidence.-Such certificate or contract or entry, or a copy of either certified by the officer with whom such certificate or contract is filed, is presumptive evidence of the marriage. § 5. Section seventeen of said article is hereby amended so as to read as follows: § 17. Fees.-Fees for services rendered under this chapter may be collected as follows: For solemnizing a marriage, including the certificate thereof, one dollar. For administering an oath and taking an examination as prescribed in section thirteen, fifty cents for each person examined. For filing and entering a certifi cate or contract, twenty-five cents. For a certified copy of a certificate or contract, or entry, ten cents. § 6. The following section nineteen is hereby added to said article after section eighteen: § 19. No marriage claimed to have been contracted on or after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and two, within this state, otherwise than in this article provided, shall be valid for any purpose whatever, provided, however, that no such marriage, shall be deemed or adjudged to be invalid, nor shall the validity thereof be in any way affected on account of any want of authority in any person solemnizing the same under subdivision one, two, three and four of section eleven of this article, if consummated with a full belief on the part of the persons so married, or either of them, that they were lawfully joined in marriage or on account of any mistake in the date or place of marriage or in the residence of either of the parties in case of a marriage solemnized under subdivision four of said section eleven. § 7. This act shall take effect on the first day of January in the year nineteen hundred and two. Chap. 340. AN ACT to amend section two of chapter eighty-seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-three, entitled "An act to amend chapter three hundred and thirty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, entitled 'An act to incorporate the city of Ogdensburg' and the acts amending the same." Accepted by the city. Became a law, April 12, 1901, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Charter Section 1. Section two of chapter eighty-seven of the laws of amended. eighteen hundred and ninety-three entitled "An act to amend |