Marriage age in the United States
Thirteen states completely ban underage marriage: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Michigan,[2] Rhode Island, Washington,[3] Virginia,[4] and New Hampshire.
[5] The other states may require the underage partner to obtain either parental consent, judicial authorization, or both, or rely on "exceptional circumstances".
The minimum underage marriage age, when all mitigating circumstances are taken into account, commonly ranges from 15 to 17.
By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America.
Additionally, the Church of England dictated that both the bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their families.
In 1275, in England, as part of the rape law, the Statute of Westminster 1275, it was a misdemeanor to "ravish" a "maiden within age", whether with or without her consent.
[8] A 1576 law imposed more severe punishments for ravishing a girl for which the age of consent was set at 10 years.
[8] Jurist Sir Matthew Hale stated that both rape laws were valid at the same time.
There was one exception: a man's acts with his wife (females over 12 years), to which rape law did not apply.
"[11] Historically, Section 56 of the California Civil Code (1872) fixed 15 as the age at which a female could marry without parental consent.
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington do not allow underage marriage.
Since 2017, Connecticut,[21] Texas,[22] Florida,[23] Kentucky,[24] Arizona,[25] Delaware,[26] Tennessee,[27] New Jersey,[28] Missouri,[29] Ohio[30] and many more have changed their law to set or raise their minimum legal age for marriage.
In Massachusetts, the minimum marriage age is 18, but prior to July 29, 2022 adolescents could be married with judicial consent.
[7] Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, and its people are American citizens.
