Marriage is a universal institution which is recognized and respected all over the world. As a social institution, marriage is founded on, and governed by laws, social and religious norms of society. Marriage under the act is a voluntary union between a man and a woman to the exclusion of others. The celebration of marriage under the act in Nigeria is regulated by the Marriage Act and is usually referred to as statutory marriage.

ESSENTIAL VALIDITY OF MARRIAGE

The parties to a marriage under the act must possess the necessary capacity.

NEITHER PARTY MUST BE MARRIED

Marriage under the act is monogamous in nature, being a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of others. Consequently, a party to a subsisting statutory or customary law marriage has no capacity to enter into another statutory marriage with another person.

CONSENT OF THE PARTIES

The voluntary consent of the parties is a prerequisite for the celebration of a statutory marriage. The absence of such consent, or the granting of it under duress or misapprehension, vitiates the agreement.

PARENTAL CONSENT

Where either party to a statutory marriage, not being a widow or a widower, is under 21 years of age, he or she must obtain a written consent of the father. But if the father is dead or of unsound mind or absent from Nigeria, the mother may give the necessary consent. Where both parents are dead or are of unsound mind or out of Nigeria the guardian of the minor can give the consent.

PROHIBITED DEGREE OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY

The parties to a statutory marriage must not be related by blood in any way. In other words, they must not be brothers or sisters or of any extended relation.

SANITY

It is necessary that parties to a statutory marriage are sane. If one of the parties is insane and therefore mentally incapable of understanding the nature of the marriage contract the marriage is void ab initio.

AGE

The marriage act did not lay down any mandatory age for marriage. Section 3 (1) (e) of the matrimonial causes Act makes a marriage void where either of the parties is not of ‘Marriageable Age’ but nowhere in the statute is the term ‘marriageable age’defined. In the absence of a statutory definition recourse may be made to the common law of England; part of the received English law in Nigeria. Under the common law, a valid marriage may be contracted if the parties have attained the age of puberty- fourteen years in the case of boys and twelve years for girls.

CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE

When the parties to an intended marriage have obtained either a registrar’s certificate or a special license they may be married in one of two different ways.

1. Marriage in a licensed place of worship: The governor of a state is authorized by the marriage act to license any place of public worship within his state to be a place for the celebration of marriage. Said license may also be revoked. Notice of the approval or revocation must be published in the state gazette. The parties may have their marriage celebrated in a licensed place of worship by any recognized minister of the church, denomination or body to which such place of worship belongs. The marriage must be celebrated with open doors between 8am and 6pm in the presence of at least two witnesses beside the officiating priest. Such celebration must be in accordance with the rites or usages of marriage observed in such church, denomination or body.  Consequently, it is contrary to the law, for a Methodist priest for instance, to solemnize a marriage in a licensed Catholic church, either according to rites of the Catholic church or according to those of his own church.


2. Marriage in a registrar’s office : Parties who have obtained a registrar’s certificate may, as alternative, contract a marriage before a marriage registrar in his office and in the presence of two witnesses. The celebration of the marriage must take place with open doors between 10am and 4pm.

3. Church marriage: This is NOT valid under the Marriage Act.It is common in Nigeria to see some couples go through a marriage ceremony in accordance with some religious rites especially in churches, without first going through the statutory requirements already mentioned above. All such marriages celebrated in churches without compliance with the Marriage Act are NOT valid marriages under the Act. A party to such can still go on and be married as many times as he pleases to other persons. This is because the marriage is not statutory.

Culled From Palmchat