ENGROSSED
H. B. 2024
(By Delegates L. White and Kiss)
[Introduced February 10, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article one, chapter
forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to including a
statement on the application for a marriage license that
each applicant has certain rights in a marriage and that
spousal and family abuse and battery are punishable by law.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article one, chapter forty-eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. MARRIAGE.
§48-1-6. Application for license; requirements for issuance of
license.
Every license for marriage shall be issued by the clerk of
the county commission of the county in which either party usually
resides, except that where both parties are nonresidents of the
state of West Virginia, the license shall be issued by the clerkof the county commission of the county in which application is
made. Such The license shall be issued not sooner than three
days after the filing with said the clerk of a written
application therefor. The day upon which such on which the
application is filed shall be counted as the first day, but two
full days shall elapse after the day of such filing before the
license shall be issued. Before any such license is issued each
applicant therefor shall file with the clerk a certificate or
certificates from any physician duly licensed in the state,
stating that each party thereto has been given such an
examination, including a standard serological test, as may be
necessary for the discovery of syphilis, made not more than
thirty days prior to the date on which such license is issued,
and stating that in the opinion of the physician the person
therein named applicant either is not infected with syphilis or,
if so infected, is not in the state of the disease which is or
may later become communicable. Such examinations and tests as
are required hereunder The examinations and tests required by
this section may be given as provided by section nineteen,
article four, chapter sixteen of this code.
The application for a marriage license shall contain a
statement of the full names of both parties, their social
security account numbers, and their respective ages and their
places of birth and residence. Effective the first day of
September, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the
application for a marriage license shall also contain the
following statement:
"The laws of this state affirm your right to enter into thismarriage and at the same time to live within the marriage free
from violence and abuse. Neither of you is the property of the
other. Physical and sexual abuse, and battery of a spouse or
other family member, are punishable by law."
It shall be signed by both of the parties to the
contemplated marriage, under oath before the clerk of the county
commission or before a person authorized to administer oaths
under the laws of this state. At the time of the execution of
such the application, the clerk, or the person administering the
oath to the applicants, shall require some evidence of the age of
each of the applicants. Evidence of the age of each applicant
may be in the form of a certified or photostatic copy of a birth
certificate, a voter's registration certificate, an operator's or
chauffeur's license, an affidavit of both parents or legal
guardian of the applicant or other good and sufficient evidence.
of such age Where such an affidavit is relied upon as evidence
of the age of an applicant, and one parent is dead, the affidavit
of the surviving parent or of the guardian of the applicant shall
suffice; if both parents are dead, the affidavit of the guardian
of the applicant shall suffice. If the parents of the applicant
are living separate and apart, the affidavit of the parent having
custody of the applicant shall suffice. Such The application
shall be recorded in the register of marriages provided for in
section eleven of this article. The date of the filing of the
application shall be noted in said the register. which The
notation, or a certified copy thereof, shall be of it, is legal
evidence of the facts therein contained.
To the extent otherwise provided by section six-c of thisarticle, the provisions of this section shall do not apply.
Applications for licenses may be received and licenses may be
issued by the clerk of the county commission at anytime his or
her office is officially open for the conduct of business.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include a statement on
the application for a marriage license that includes the right of
applicants to be free from violence and abuse. The statement
also includes a warning that abuse and battery of a spouse or
another family member are punishable by law.
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
On page two, section six, line twenty-four, following the
period, by striking out the word "The" and inserting in lieu
thereof the following: "".