owner or lessee shall be a bar to any suit brought for the amount of said claim, or any portion thereof remaining unpaid, against the contractor directly liable to pay the same to said claimant.

SEC. 6. Should the original contractor, for any cause, fail to complete his contract, any person entitled to a lien, as aforesaid, may file his petition in any court of record, against the owner or lessee and contractor, setting forth the nature of his claim, the amount due, as near as may be, and the names of the parties employed on such house, or other improvement, subject to liens; and notice of such suit shall be served on the persons therein named, and such as shall appear shall have their claims adjudicated, and decree shall be entered against the owner or lessee and original contractor, for so much as the work and material shall be shown to be reasonably worth, according to the original contract price, first deducting so much as shall have been rightfully paid on said original contract by the owner or lessee, the balance to be divided between such claimants in proportion to their respective interests, to be ascertained by the court, the premises to be sold within thirty days from the date of such decree, unless the judgment shall be sooner paid.

SEC. 7. No payments to the original contractor, or to any sub-contractor, by such owner or lessee, shall be regarded as rightfully made, if made in violation of the rights conferred by this act.

SEC. 8. The lien hereby created shall continue for six months from the time of the performance of the sub-contract, or doing of the work, or furnishing materials, as aforesaid, except where suit shall be commenced as aforesaid, and in such cases all liens shall be barred by decrees entered in said case. Approved April 17, 1871.

MARRIAGE

CHAPTER LI.

DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND

DEATHS-DIVORCE.

If otherwise competent, males eighteen years of age, and females sixteen years of age, are deemed capable in law of contracting marriage.

No man shall marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, grand-daughter, stepmother, grandfather's wife, son's wife, grandson's wife, wife's mother, wife's grandmother, wife's

daughter, wife's grand-daughter, nor his sister, brother's daughter, sister's daughter, father's sister, or mother's sister.

No woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, grandson, stepfather, grandmother's husband, daughter's husband, grand-daughter's husband, husband's father, husband's grandfather, husband's son, husband's grandson, nor her brother, brother's son, sister's son, father's brother, or mother's brother.

No marriage shall be contracted whilst either party has a former wife or husband living, unless the marriage of such former wife or husband shall have been dissolved.

No white person shall intermarry with a negro.

Marriages may be solemnized by Justices of the Peace and Ministers of the Gospel; or, so far as relates to the manner, may be solemnized according to the usages of any society or denomination.

All Justices of the Peace and Ministers of the Gospel are required, before solemnizing any marriage, to examine at least one of the parties under oath, touching the legality of such intended marriage.

All marriages must be solemnized in the presence of at least two witnesses besides the Minister or Magistrate.

Persons authorized to solemnize marriages (Ministers of the Gospel and Justices of the Peace) are required to make a record of each marriage solemnized by them; and the keeper of the records of the meetings in which any marriage among the Friends or Quakers shall be solemnized, shall make a record of such marriage.

Certificates of marriage shall be furnished by the Minister, Justice, or Clerk, to either of the parties to such marriage. Certified copies of the record of marriages must be sent to the County Clerk, who is required to record the same.

It is the duty of the Supervisor of each township, and the Supervisor or Assessor of any city or ward therein, to return

to the County Clerk, on or before the first day of June, in each year, a statement of the births and deaths which have occurred in their respective townships, cities, and wards during the year ending on the last day of the preceding December. But in the city of Detroit, persons are appointed by the Common Council to perform this duty.

Divorce. All marriages prohibited by law on account of the relationship of the parties, or on account of either of them having a former wife or husband living; all marriages solemnized while either party was an idiot or insane; all marriages between a white person and a negro, if solemnized within this State; all marriages solemnized when either party was under the age of legal consent, if they shall separate during such nonage, and not live together afterwards, or in case the consent of one of the parties was obtained by force or fraud, and there shall have been no subsequent voluntary cohabitation of the parties, shall be deemed void without any decree of divorce.

A sentence to imprisonment for life, of either party, dissolves the marriage, without any decree of divorce.

[For grounds for granting a divorce, see note to this chapter.]

During the pending of a suit for divorce, the Court has power to make such order concerning the care and custody of the minor children and for the support of the wife by the husband as shall seem suitable and proper; and when a decree is granted, the Court makes such order as to the future care of the children and support of the wife as shall appear just and proper under all the circumstances.

When the marriage is dissolved, on account of the imprisonment of the husband, adultery by the husband, misconduct, or habitual drunkenness of the husband, the wife shall be entitled to her dower in his lands, the same as if he were dead.

The Court has power to grant a divorce from bed and board, without dissolving the marriage, in cases where the ground of complaint is extreme cruelty, or the neglect of the husband to support the wife.

Questions-At what age may parties contract marriage? Who shall not intermarry? Who may solemnize marriages? What examination is required? How many witnesses are required? What is said of certificates and records of marriages? What is required of Super. visors and Assessors with reference to statements of births and deaths? What is said of the care and support of minor children, and of the wife, in divorce cases? For what cause may a divorce from bed and board only, be granted?

NOTE.--The following are recognized by our statute as grounds for granting a divorce, to the aggrieved party: Adultery; physical incompetency; sentence of one of the parties to imprisonment for three years or more; when either party shall desert the other for a term of two years; when either party shall have become an habitual drunkard. And the Court may, in its discretion, grant a decree of divorce for the cause of extreme cruelty, or, on the complaint of the wife, where the husband neglects or refuses to support her, being able to furnish such support. The Court will not grant a divorce to a party who is shown to be guilty of the same crime or misconduct charged against the defendant.

It is the duty of the husband to maintain and support his wife; and in case he abandon her and leave the State without sufficient provision for her support, the Probate Court may authorize her to sell his personal property, and collect moneys or other property due and belonging to him, and to use the same as her own.

A married woman may dispose of her property the same as if she were unmarried, and may make and enforce contracts for the purchase or sale of property. Her property is not liable for the debts of her husband. She may sue and be sued, in relation to her separate property, without joining her husband in such suit; and may carry on business in her own name. While the husband is liable for the support of his wife, that is, for necessaries furnished her, he is not liable upon her contracts for other things.

The wife may mortgage her property to secure a debt of her own, or that of another person, but a note signed by her as surety, cannot be enforced against her. She may, however, buy goods for use in her husband's family, and be liable therefor, provided the goods were purchased with the understanding that she should pay for them. She may insure her life for the benefit of her husband, or her husband's life for her own benefit.

A mortgage, given by the husband, upon the homestead, or other property exempt by law from sale or execution, is invalid unless signed by the wife.

Where property of the husband has been taken from him on a mortgage, invalid for want of her signature, or upon an execution, where the property was not subject to levy, the wife may bring suit to recover the same, in her own name.

The widow of every deceased person is entitled to dower, or the use, during her natural life, of one-third part of all the lands whereof her husband was seized of an estate of inheritance, at any time during the marriage, unless she has conveyed the same away, or unless she has entered into an agreement to accept a certain consideration in lieu of dower.

Provision is made by law, for an allowance out of the husband's personal estate for the support of the widow and children, until such estate can be settled.