ty, and to be
free in the use and enjoyment of it. To protect men in the enjoyment of
this right, is one of the principal objects of constitutions and laws.
The rights of property will constitute the subject matter of several
subsequent chapters of this digest of "common and statutory law." (Chap.
L, and onward.)

Chapter XLVIII.

Domestic Relations. Husband and Wife.

Sec.1. To render a marriage contract lawful, the parties must be of
sufficient age, called the age of consent; which, by the common law of
the land, is fourteen years in males, and twelve in females. In some
states the age of consent has been altered by statute. In Ohio, Indiana,
and Michigan, it has been raised to eighteen years in males, and
fourteen in females; in Illinois to seventeen and fourteen; in
Wisconsin, to eighteen and fifteen.

Sec.2. The parties must also have sufficient understanding to transact the
ordinary business of life. Idiots and lunatics cannot legally contract
marriage. Persons must also act freely. If the consent of either party
has been obtained by force or fraud, the marriage may be declared void.
The parties must not be nearly related. The degrees of relationship at
which they are forbidden to marry are in some states fixed by law; but
the laws of these states on the subject are not uniform. Some states
have forbidden marriages which come within what is called the Levitical
degrees; but these degrees have received different interpretations.
According to the interpretation of some, the relation of uncle and niece
and aunt and nephew, come within this rule.

Sec.3. No person can lawfully remarry who has a wife or husband living.
Such second marriage is, by the common law, null and void. In some of
the states, perhaps in most of them, it is declared _polygamy_, and a
state prison offense, except in certain cases; as when the husband or
wife of the party who remarries has been long absent, and the party
re-marrying does not know the other to have been living within the time;
or when the former husband or wife of the party remarrying has been
sentenced to imprisonment for life; or when the former marriage has been
lawfully annulled or dissolved. If, however, a marriage has been
annulled or dissolved for the cause of adultery, the criminal party is,
in some states at least, not allowed to remarry.

Sec.4. In some of the cases excepted in the preceding section, the second
marriage is merely excusable. Although the pa