Age of marriage in America The United States is by no means a standard for Nigeria’s legal decisions or considerations, however for a robust conversation, I will like to point out the ages of marriage in various states in America. In all states, to marry without parental and/or court consent, the minimal age is 18. But, with parental and in some cases, additional family court consent, the ages of marriage are rather interesting and will be a cause of grief for Nigerian senators and the media, no doubt: New York has the minimum being 14 years. North Carolina allows marriage at 14 years too. South Carolina sets it at 14 for females and 16 for males. And New Hampshire sets their minimum age of marriage at 13 years. But it gets more interesting. In several states, there is actually no legal minimum age of marriage. Nigerians will say, ‘so you can marry at one year old?’ Yes, so it appears in the United States–with court approval, theoretically you can. Washington state, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Texas and Rhode Island states set no minimum age of marriage for Americans. Once you can get court approval, you can marry in these states, regardless of your biological age. This information is freely available online. This website carries it: usmarriagelaws/search/united_states/teen_marriage_laws/ it is important to correct an outrageous error that spread as fast as bad news is know to, all over the Nigerian media and blogosphere. The senate proceedings on child marriage were actually not about child marriage. Section 29 is in respect to the right of a married lady no matter how young, to be empowered “of age,” to take important decisions like renunciation of her citizenship, if she so desires–to seek foreign asylum for instance. Being “of age” after a legal marriage is global legislative setting which proffers on the individual various rights and abilities to make decisions and choices to be respected by all parties and the state, as well as entitlements. Marriage must first have occurred legally and the topic of marriage age and requirements is not covered under section 29 in view.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:02:59 +0000
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