State v. Graves ( 1957 )

Paul AVard, J.,

concurring. For any one to encourage a girl 13 years old [and so far as the majority opinion holds, it could be a girl of 8 years] to get married [even in Mississippi] is so revolting to my mind that I am constrained to write this brief concurrence.

It seems to me that the majority opinion has not dealt with the vital issue involved in this appeal. It has gone to great length, to show that the marriage of Sandra in Mississippi is a valid marriage in Arkansas. Begardless of whether that conclusion is sound or not, to me the real question is: Do our courts have any authority to punish a person for encouraging a girl of tender years to g’et married? It must be remembered that the people of this state, acting through its legislature, have said, Ark. Stats., § 55-102,' that such a marriage is absolutely void. The people must have felt pretty strongly about this matter because the word “absolutely” was separately inserted into an old statute which made such a marriage merely “void.”

Ark. Stats., § 45-204, defines a delinquent child as one who indulges in certain conduct deemed unwholesome —such as violating the law, visiting gambling places and pool halls, and wandering in the streets at night. True the above statute does not specifically mention marrying at the age of 13 or 8 years, but I submit that such is within the spirit of the law and that it is more revolting to our social concepts than the things mentioned in the statute. As I understand the reasoning in the majority opinion, it makes no difference whether the child which gets married is 13 years old or 8 years old.

Ark. Stats., § 45-239, makes it a misdemeanor for any one to contribute to the delinquency of a child — that is to encourage a child to engage in a forbidden course of conduct as defined above.

Since there might have been presented to the trial court in this case circumstances which justified it in dismissing the charges against the defendants, I am concurring in the majority opinion. I would have preferred, however, to join in an opinion which did not take away from the courts the power to punish a person guilty of encouraging a very young child to get married, even to get married in another State.