In re Barbara Haven – Minimum Age for Marriage
In re Barbara Haven, 86 Pa D. & C. 141 (Orphans’ Ct. 1953).
NATURE OF THE CASE: This family law case involved a dispute over the issuance of a marriage license to a fourteen-year-old female.
FACTS: Barbara Haven, a fourteen year old female, sought to marry the 22 year old son of his father’s second wife. Her father granted his consent to the marriage. Haven was below the minimum age requirement for marriage in Pennsylvania and requested an order from the court to grant a marriage license.
ISSUE: In order to get married below the state’s legal minimum age requirement for marriage, must a party show more than love and mere physical ability?
RULE OF LAW: Yes. In order to get married below the state’s legal minimum age requirement for marriage, a party must show more than love and mere physical ability.
While Haven is physically suited for marriage, she has completed her education through the eighth grade. She testified that she has been in love with her stepbrother for two years and believes that her love for him is genuine and permanent. He is her first boyfriend although she has attended school dances with other boys. The man she seeks to marry appears industrious and ambitious and there is no observable reason why he should not be married.
The legislature has established a minimum age for marriage through legislation as a matter of public policy because it sought to prevent young people from becoming married before considering with calm deliberation whether the step is both desirable and safe. In this concept there has been ample support in aphorism and precept. The statute fulfills a two-fold function in protecting marriage as an estate and in placing a restraining hand upon the shoulder of impetuous youth. Our duty directs our attention to the interest of society in marriage, but it also commands us to consider the best interests of the minor as well.
When the legislature conferred jurisdiction upon us to set aside the general rule in favor of special cases it could not have meant that our discretion was to be exercised in commonplace situations such as obtains here. There is more to marriage than physical and mental development. It requires mature understanding and judgment; mature emotional stability. There are no special circumstances herein to make the order prayed for.
DISPOSITION: Order for marriage license denied.