MARRIAGES ABROAD

Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922); May 31, 1883

ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849-1987) pg 7

MARRIAGES ABROAD

The Troubles Experienced by Charles Matern and Mayor Harrison

Among the Advertisements in yesterday's Tribune appeared the following notice:

Charles Matern, of Chicago, will be married to Madeline Kuhn of Souffleweyersheim at Souffleweyersheim. Any person having any objections will forward same to the Governor at Strasburg or to Joseph Wurtz, Mayor of Souffleweyersheim, Alsace, Germany.

It seemed strange that a citizen of Chicago who proposed to unite his fortunes with those of a maiden of Souffleweyersheim should publish his engagement in the daily papers, and even go so far as to request people "having objections" to communicate with the civil authorities in Germany. A reporter called upon Mr. Julius Rosenthal, the well-known lawyer and from him obtained an explanation of the proceeding. Mr. Rosenthal read an extract from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, showing that, according to the old English law, no marriage could be legally performed without a prior publication of the banns. "There is a provision," said Mr. Rosenthal, "in the Code Napoleon to the same effect, and therefore, the authorities in Germany could not perform the marriage ceremony in the present instance without a publication of the banns where the contracting parties resided. The motives for such a provision will be readily seen. From the present advertisement it would appear that the marriage ceremony was to be performed by the civil authorities, but without publishing a notice at Matern's place of residence, it would be impossible for them to tell whether there was any other obstacle in the proposed union. Mayor Harrison during his recent European visit wished to get married in France, but could not do so on account of this law. He made every effort, and was finally obliged to have the ceremony performed in England."

"Could he not have been married at the American Embassy in Paris?"

"Yes, but the ceremony would still have been performed on French territory, and would have been regarded as irregular by the French courts."
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