MARRIAGES. 2131

An. Code, sec. 4. 1904, sec. 4. 1888, sec. 4. 1777, ch. 12, sec. 3. 1865, ch. 130. 1866, ch. 102.
1868, ch. 42. 1882, ch. 357. 1886, ch. 497. 1912, ch. 73.

4. No person within this State shall be joined in marriage until a
license shall have been obtained from the Clerk of the Circuit Court for
the county in which the marriage is to be performed, or if in Baltimore
City, from the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, or unless the names of
the parties intending to marry shall be thrice published in some church or
house of public worship in the county where the woman resides on three
several Sundays by some minister residing in said county; provided, never-
theless, that any person within this State may marry according to the
ceremony used by the society of people called Quakers, the contracting
parties signing a certificate to the effect that they have agreed to take each
other for husband and wife, and said certificate being attested by at least
twelve witnesses; and provided, further, that said certificate shall within
sixty days be recorded either among the records of the society to which
either of the contracting parties may belong, or in some court of record in
the city or county in which said marriage may be accomplished. The license
required by this article shall be in the following form, to wit: State of
Maryland and County of ———. To any minister of the Gospel or other
officer or person authorized by the laws of the State to solemnize marriage:
You are hereby authorized to join together in the holy estate of matrimony
according to the rules and ceremonies of your church, society or religious
sect and the laws of this State, A. B., whose place of residence is ———;
whose age is ———, color ———, and who is (state here whether single,
widower or diyorced, as the case may be), and C. D., whose place of
residence is ———, color ———, and who is (state here whether single, widow
or divorced, as the case may be), and who are ——— (state here also whether
the contracting parties are in any way related). Given under my hand and
seal of the Circuit Court for ——— County (or the Court of Common Pleas
of Baltimore City) at ———, this ——— day of ———, A. D., one thousand
nine hundred and ———. The license shall have appended to it two certifi-
cates framed to correspond with said license, which shall be in form as
follows: I hereby certify that on this ——— day of ———, one thousand nine
hundred and ———, at ———, A. B., and C. D. were by me united in marriage
in accordance with the license issued by the Clerk of the ——— Court for
——— County (or City), Maryland, which certificate shall be signed by
the minister or other person who performed the ceremony, giving his
name and. official character; one of said certificates shall be handed to the
contracting parties and the other shall within thirty days from the date
of the marriage be returned to the clerk of the Court from which it issued.

While there must Be " some religious ceremony " in order that a marriage may
be valid, the failure to secure a license does not render a marriage void. Purpose
of requiring a license. Feehley v. Feehley, 129 Md. 569.

No marriage in this state is valid without some sort of religious ceremony. Denison
v. Denison, 35 Md. 379; Fornshill v. Murray, 1 Bl. 482.

Act of 1886, ch. 497, repealed act of 1886, ch. 261, and also repealed secs. 4 to 8
of art. 60 of Code of 1860. State v. Davis, 70 Md. 239; Musgrave v. B. & O. R. R. Co.,
111 Md. 637.