After The Ministers

Who Fail to Promptly Report Their Marriages.

Complaint is being made in the county clerks office that in many cases the ministers who solemnize marriages, are very remiss in making returns. The last quarterly report had to be held 10 days before it could be forwarded to the state department. It was necessary in some cases to write the bride grooms to find out the ministers name and then write to the ministers.
The clerk calls attention to the following notice on the blanks to clergymen and justices of the peace officiating at marriages in Michigan:

"The law requires that the clergyman or magistrate officiating at a marriage shall make his return to the county clerk who issued the license within ten (10) days after the ceremony.
For neglect to make such return, the clergyman or magistrate 'shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding $100, or 90 days imprisonment, or both. ' "

N. B. - County clerks are instructed to strictly enforce the law, and to report all violations of it to the state department.