This is weird. Funny-weird and dangerously-weird.
A law passed in Arkansas inadvertently inserted the word “not” with the result that, instead of establishing the minimum marriageable age, the age restriction was removed and literally allowed toddlers to marry.
The law, sponsored by Rep. Will Bond, took effect on July 31. It reads:
In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage. [Baxter Bulletin]
The intention was to ban minors from marrying EVEN when there was parental consent. The result was to allow even those below 18 to marry.
Rep. Bond filed another bill to repeal the law with the embarrassing typo and it was in fact repealed when the Arkansas governor signed Bond’s new bill into law last Wednesday.
Curious that it took so many months to solve the problem. Apparently, there were concerns that pedophiles would take advantage of the situation. Still, it took six months to end the problem.
Thing is, you have a law worded that way and clerks in city and town halls cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to toddlers, so long as there is parental consent, because the clerks’ duty is ministerial in nature. They do not have the authority to challenge the wording of the law, no matter the glaring mistake.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
nikita 04.04.08 at 10:50 pm
Heh, it’s Arkansas,…folks across “the river” from where I live. Why am I not surprised!
Connie Veneracion 04.04.08 at 11:45 pm
You mean lawmakers there are unsurprisingly “like that”? Clinton is from Little Rock, if I remember correctly. Hmmmm
Or sex with (or among) minors are more common there?