(June 4, 2015 at 8:45 am)robvalue Wrote: Surely a child cannot enter into a marriage contract though?
Presently a child may not enter into a marriage contract because it is prohibited by the states under rational basis due to the procreation centric (implicit agreement to sexual relations) engender under marriage. Furthermore, the child has no fundamental right to marriage.
However, if marriage were change as petitioners desired it would become a fundamental right and be recognition and dignity/security centric. Thus, the states would have to have a compelling interest in denying a child over the age of 5 the right to contract with an adult into a situation which will bestow more dignity and security to the child.
Consent has been brought up as well but think about it in these terms Warren Jeffs is currently in prison for being an accomplice to rape by arranging marriages between adults and minors where the parents gave their consent to the minor to be married. Had the law been as petitioners desired at the time he did these things it would not be illegal because:
1. The children would have a fundamental right to marriage to be exercised after the age of 5.
2. The parents consented to the marriage.
3. The act of marriage conveys addition dignity and security and is not an agreement to sexual relations.
