CELEBRATION.--The marriage must be celebrated by the registrar in the town hall of the commune in which one of the parties had had continuous residence for at least six months. The registrar, in the presence of four witnesses, reads to the parties that chapter of the Civil Code of Roumania which defines the rights and duties of marriage. The parties must then declare to the registrar their intention to marry each other. After this the officiating registrar p.r.o.nounces the parties to be husband and wife.

If a religious celebration is desired it must in all cases be preceded by the civil ceremony.

ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE.--A marriage may be annulled on any of the following grounds:

1. That it was not regularly celebrated before a registrar.

2. That free consent of one or both parties did not exist.

3. Lack of proper age.

4. An existing marriage.

5. Relationship within prohibited degrees.

6. Lack of parental consent.

7. In the case of a soldier, lack of proper consent from the necessary military authorities.

Where a marriage has been contracted in good faith the parties thereto and the issue of the marriage are ent.i.tled to all civil rights resulting therefrom; but if only one party was in good faith, only that party and the issue of the marriage are ent.i.tled to these rights.

DIVORCE.--The great majority of the people of the kingdom belong to the Roumanian branch of the Orthodox Greek Church, which in practice does not hold to the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.

The law of the land permits absolute divorce for the following causes:

1. By mutual consent of the parties. The parties on such an application appear before a judge with a written inventory of their goods, showing the division agreed upon, and with certificates of their birth and marriage, of the births and deaths of their children, and, when necessary, the consent of their parents.

The judge then endeavours to reconcile the parties. If at the end of one year and fifteen days no reconciliation has been effected a divorce is granted.

2. Adultery of husband or wife.

3. Cruel and abusive treatment of one spouse toward the other.

4. A judicial condemnation of either party to a prison sentence for an infamous crime.

5. An attempt of one party on the life of the other.

6. Intentional omission of one spouse to warn the other of an attempt by a third person on the life of the other spouse.

SEPARATION.--Judicial separations are not granted by the courts of Roumania.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE.--Divorced parties are forbidden to remarry each other.

A divorced woman may not marry again within ten months after her divorcement, and the guilty party in a suit for divorce on the ground of adultery may not marry his or her accomplice in adultery.

Otherwise divorced parties are free to marry again.

A divorced woman may not retain her husband's surname.

All property rights granted by the innocent party to the guilty party are extinguished by the decree of divorce. The guilty party may be ordered to contribute to the support of the innocent party.

The custody of the children is usually given to the successful suitor. The court may, however, if circ.u.mstances require, entrust the children to the guilty party or to a third person.

CHAPTER XXI.

SERVIA.

Servia is a kingdom in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula. In 1882 it became a const.i.tutional monarchy. The judiciary is vested in a High Court of Appeal, a Court of Ca.s.sation, a Commercial Court and twenty-three courts of the first instance.

The Servian laws of marriage and divorce are substantially the same as those of the Orthodox Greek Church. All marital suits in which one or both parties belong to this church are governed by State law, although jurisdiction lies with the ecclesiastical courts. Matters pertaining to property settlement are, however, entirely within the jurisdiction of the civil courts, as are all marital suits in which neither party belongs to the Greek Church.

When the parties to a marital suit are Roman Catholics decisions are rendered according to the canon law; and when both parties are Protestants, according to the principles of the sect to which the parties belong.

In the case of a mixed marriage of others than adherents of the Greek Church the decision is rendered according to the principles of the church in which the marriage was celebrated.

MARRIAGE QUALIFICATIONS.--A man cannot marry until he has completed his seventeenth year; a woman until she has completed her fifteenth year of age. By the dispensation of the church, granted by a bishop, a man of fifteen years or a woman of thirteen years may conclude marriage.

The free consent of both parties is essential to a valid marriage.

If both the contracting parties are over eighteen years of age parental consent to a marriage is not obligatory. Where both parties are under eighteen years, or the intended bride is under that age and the intended bridegroom is under twenty-one years, the consent of parents is necessary.

All persons are forbidden to contract a new marriage until a previous existing marriage has been dissolved or judicially declared a nullity.

CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY.--Marriage is prohibited between relatives by blood in the direct line and in the collateral line as far as the eighth degree, inclusive--that is to say, as far as the degree of relationship of third cousins. Relatives in the seventh or eighth degree may marry by episcopal dispensation. Marriage is prohibited between relatives by marriage as far as the fifth degree, inclusive.

Marriage is prohibited between persons spiritually related, as between the G.o.dparent and the G.o.dchild or his descendants.

IMPEDIMENTS.--Persons who have been judicially condemned for adultery are forbidden to contract marriage with their accomplices in the offence.

The party declared guilty in a suit for divorce is prohibited from marrying again during the lifetime of the innocent party.

A woman may not, as a rule, marry again until nine months after the dissolution by death or divorce of her previous marriage.

Insane persons cannot contract a binding marriage.

Incurable impotence of either party, which existed at the time the marriage was concluded, is cause for a decree of nullity.

Marriage is expressly forbidden between Christians and Jews or between Christians and non-Christians of any sect whatever.

Marriage is prohibited between two persons one of whom has attempted the life of the husband or wife of the other.

A lawful marriage cannot be concluded with a woman who has been abducted and has not yet been restored to freedom.

Marriage cannot be concluded by a person who is under sentence to imprisonment.