Jones v. Hallahan PDF

Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Jones v. Hallahan
501 S.W.2d 588 (Ky. Ct. App. 1973)
Decided Nov 9, 1973
VANCE, Commissioner. "The legal union of a man with a woman

for life; the state or condition of being
The appellants, each of whom is a female person,
married; the legal relation of spouses to
seek review of a judgment of the Jefferson Circuit
each other; wedlock; the formal
Court which held that they were not entitled to
declaration or contract by which a man and
have issued to them a license to marry each other.
a woman join in wedlock."
Appellants contend that the failure of the clerk to
Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth Edition, defines
issue the license deprived them of three basic
marriage as:
constitutional rights, namely, the right to marry;
the right of association; and the right to free "The civil status, condition or relation of
exercise of religion. They also contend that the one man and one woman united in law for
refusal subjects them to cruel and unusual life, for the discharge to each other and the
punishment. community of the duties legally incumbent
upon those whose association is founded
The sections of Kentucky statutes relating to
on the distinction of sex."
marriage do not include a definition of that term. It
must therefore be defined according to common Kentucky statutes do not specifically prohibit
usage. marriage between persons of the same sex1 nor do
they authorize the issuance of a marriage license
Webster's New International Dictionary, Second
to such persons.
Edition, defines marriage as follows:
1 KRS 402.020(5) and KRS 402.210 do
"A state of being married, or being united
contain references to the male and female
to a person or persons of the opposite sex
of the species.
as husband or wife; also, the mutual
relation of husband and wife; wedlock; Marriage was a custom long before the state
abstractly, the institution whereby men and commenced to issue licenses for that purpose. For
women are joined in a special kind of a time the records of marriage were kept by the
social and legal dependence, for the church. Some states even now recognize a
purpose of founding and maintaining a common-law marriage which has neither the
family." benefit of license nor clergy. In all cases, however,
marriage has always been considered as the union
The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia defines
of a man and a woman and we have been
marriage as:
presented with no authority to the contrary.
It appears to us that appellants are prevented from

marrying, not by the statutes of Kentucky or the
refusal of the County Court Clerk of Jefferson
1
Jones v. Hallahan 501 S.W.2d 588 (Ky. Ct. App. 1973)
County to issue them a license, but rather by their We find no constitutional sanction or protection of
own incapability of entering into a marriage as the right of marriage between persons of the same
that term is defined. sex.
A license to enter into a status or a relationship The claim of religious freedom cannot be
which the parties are incapable of achieving is a extended to make the professed doctrines superior
nullity. If the appellants had concealed from the to the law of the land and in effect to permit every
clerk the fact that they were of the same sex and citizen to become a law unto himself. Reynolds v.
he had issued a license to them and a ceremony United States, 98 U.S. 145. We do not consider the
had been performed, the resulting relationship refusal to issue the license a punishment.
would not constitute a marriage.
In substance, the relationship proposed by the
This is a case of first impression in Kentucky. To appellants does not authorize the issuance of a
our knowledge, only two other states have marriage license because what they propose is not
considered the question and both of them have a marriage.
reached the same result that we reach in this
The judgment is affirmed.
590 opinion. Baker *590 v. Nelson, 291 Minn. 310, 191
N.W.2d 185 (1971), appeal dismissed for want of All concur.
a substantial federal question, 409 U.S. 810, 93
591 S.Ct. 37, 34 L.Ed.2d 65; Anonymous v. *591
Anonymous, 67 Misc.2d 982, 325 N.Y.S.2d 499.
Baker v. Nelson considered many of the

constitutional issues raised by the appellants here
and decided them adversely to appellants. In our
view, however, no constitutional issue is involved.

Jones v. Hallahan PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Jones v. Hallahan PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Jones v. Hallahan PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

VANCE, Commissioner. "The legal union of a man with a woman

It appears to us that appellants are prevented from

Baker v. Nelson considered many of the

You might also like