Filed Date: 4/15/1976
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
HON. JOHN J. GIBBONS U.S. Circuit Judge U.S. Court of Appeals
This is in response to your letter requesting the opinion of the Attorney General concerning the following: You state that you are a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with a residence in New Jersey. You inquire whether, as such, you are authorized under the New York Domestic Relations Law to solemnize a marriage in New York.
Section
"§ 11. By whom a marriage must be solemnized
"No marriage shall be valid unless solemnized by either:
"3. A justice or judge of a court of record, or of a municipal court, a police justice of a village, a town or city justice or a county clerk of a county wholly within cities having a population of one million or more; * * *
* * *
"6. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article to the contrary no marriage shall be solemnized by a public officer specified in this section, other than a justice of the supreme court of this State, outside the territorial jurisdiction in which he was elected or appointed. * * *" (Emphasis supplied.)
A "court of record" is defined in section
We are not aware of any federal statute which confers upon federal judges the right to perform marriages in New York.
Even were we to conclude, however, that you were a judge of a "court of record" as that term is defined in the Judiciary Law, subdivision 6 of section
We conclude, therefore, that a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is not authorized to solemnize a marriage in New York State.