Opinion
2 Div. 31.
June 22, 1923.
Certiorari to Court of Appeals.
G. C. Walker, of Clanton, and L. H. Ellis, of Columbiana, for petitioner.
No marriage may be solemnized without a license issued by the judge of probate of the county in which the woman resides or in which the ceremony is to be performed, and any one performing a marriage ceremony without a license as so required is subject to the penalty. A legal statutory marriage cannot be consummated under a paper or purported license which has no legal status as such. Code 1923, §§ 8998, 9004; Hawkins v. Hawkins, 142 Ala. 571, 38 So. 640; Ely v. Gammel, 52 Ala. 584.
A. M. Pitts, of Selma, for respondent.
Brief did not reach the Reporter.
The statute, section 9004 of the Code of 1923, upon which plaintiff rests her right of action, provides: " Penalty for marrying persons without license. — Any person authorized under this chapter to perform a marriage ceremony, who joins in marriage without a license as required by this chapter, or who goes out of the state and marries persons, one or both of whom reside in this state, without such license, or a license from the state in which the marriage is celebrated, forfeits one thousand dollars, one-half to the use of the state, and the other half to the use of any person who may sue for the same." (Italics supplied.)
This statute is highly penal and must be strictly construed. Anderson v. City of Birmingham, 205 Ala. 604, 88 So. 900. When so construed the penalty is levied against persons authorized by section 8995 to solemnize marriages, who perform such ceremony without a license, and does not embrace the solemnization of a marriage under a license issued by the judge of probate of a county, other than the county in which the woman resides or in which the ceremony is performed. Such irregularity does not render the license void or affect the validity of the marriage. Ely v. Gammel, 52 Ala. 584.
The writ of certiorari is denied.
Writ denied.
ANDERSON, C. J., and THOMAS and KNIGHT, JJ., concur.