Barnidge v. Kilpatrick

Citations

• 111 La. 587
• 35 So. 757
• 1904 La. LEXIS 539

Syllabus

<p>MARRIAGE LICENSES—GRANT BY CLERK OP COURT—NEGLECT OP DUTY.</p> <p>1. The existing provision of law as to the precise circumstances and evidence under which clerks of court are authorized to issue marriage licenses are of a very general character, and what is called for in each case is left very much to their sound judgment and discretion.</p> <p>2. When a clerk of court does not know and has never seen the intended wife, and there is nothing in the particular case calculated to arouse his suspicions as to her being a minor, ho is not guilty of negligence and failure of official duty, and liable in damages, for granting a license, relying upon the truthfulness of statements made to him by the intended husband and the friend accompanying him, who signed as surety on the bond, required to be given under article 101 of the Civil Code, that the parties were of age, and everything was right.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>