Court Rules: 15 year old girls can [commonlaw] marry.
For traditional ceremonial marriage, Colorado law sets the minimum age at 18, or 16 with parental or judicial approval.
"It appears that Colorado has adopted the common-law age of consent for marriage as 14 for a male and 12 for a female, which existed under English common law," the ruling said.
This has me wondering several things:
- Where do we draw the line at what "commonlaw" marriage is, what benefits (like health insurance, etc) commonlaw marriages are subject to (as opposed to legal marriages), with regards to restrictions on minors (like "age of consent")?
- Is this saying it's okay for teenagers to have sex and get pregnant, because in some "official" capacity a union between the boy and girl are recognized?
- Not trying to sound perverse here, but what are the restrictions with regards to household occupants? I know in most states intra-family unions are illegal, but what about distant cousins living with the family? I may have the definition of commonlaw marriage mixed up, but I thought it had to do with living conditions (household occupants) more than a guy and a woman living together for a certain amount of time and *stating* that they are commonlaw married. IOW, doesn't the state actually recognize/define commonlaw marriage on it's own? When I lived in NC, I lived with my ex-girlfriend for the better part of 3 years. I think commonlaw is 5 years or more or something like that, but would that have made us commonlaw married in the eyes of the state, even though we never claimed we were such?
Where the real issues with this type of stuff lie, to me is, condoning actions, and hypocriticism. What I mean is, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of acceptance (in both directions), yet as a country, we're constantly fighting against that "push" (at least, the negative aspects).
Okay, my thoughts are completely unorganized here, and I appologize for that.
We are one of the most prudish societies on earth, despite the amount of sex, exposure, etc. we see on TV and ads and the like, we're still much more constrained than much of the rest of the world in those respects. We're constantly trying to "lock up our daughters" (to use an old saying), and protect our children (there's another discussion, defining the boundaries of "childhood" and when a person ceases being a child) from, well, themselves (since they are the most easily influenced aspect of society). But at the same time, we're also making many more allowances for things that just a decade ago were considered wrong, or just plain stupid.
Okay, that's just the "questions" aspect of my post. My opinion?
Well, I'm torn. 30 years ago, the stupid kids were still smarter than our stupid kids today, but the smart kids weren't as smart as our smart kids are today. Back then, the majority was "average". That's not the case nowadays. The gap between "smart" and "stupid" appears to be widening, and there's just not that many "average's" anymore. I think "all men (and women) are created equal" is mostly true, but things diverge rather quickly. Unfortunately, laws are meant to be "indiscriminate", so how do you seperate the responsible from the irresponsible? And I don't just mean age, because I guarantee you there are a lot of "kids" who are much more responsible than many "adults".
I think that's why we're suffering, because societal priviledges are doled out based upon age (a non discriminating factor), but there's no way to adjust those priviledges (more appropriately) based upon intelligence and/or maturity (the truer defining nature).
I'm going off on a HUGE tangent here, and I'm aware of that (mind wandering and all that).
So, let's end it on this note: I'm not SURE what my opinion is on this, but it is something that really struck a chord with me. I'd love to know what your opinion on the matter is (and if you feel uncomfy commenting publically, or your opinion is even longer than mine ;), feel free to email me (link on the right)).
Sure, blogging is nice and fun, until somebody posts an eye out...
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