*** The Marriage License a Fraud ***



Reasons Why You Should Not Obtain a State Marriage License

By Pastor Matt Trewhella

Every year thousands of people amble down to their local county courthouse and obtain a marriage license from the State in order to marry their future spouse. They do this unquestioningly. They do it because their pastor has told them to go get one, and besides, "everybody else gets one." This pamphlet attempts to answer the question - why should we not get one? The definition of a "license" demands that we not obtain one to marry.

Black's Law Dictionary defines "license" as, " The permission by competent authority to do an act which without such permission, would be illegal." We need to ask ourselves- why should it be illegal to marry without the State's permission? More importantly, why should we need the State's permission to participate in something, which God instituted (Gen. 2:18-24)? We should not need the State's permission to marry nor should we grovel before state officials to seek it. What if you apply and the State says "no"? You must understand that the authority to license implies the power to prohibit. A license by definition "confers a right" to do something. The State cannot grant the right to marry. It is a God-given right.

1. When you marry with a marriage license, you grant the State jurisdiction over your marriage. When you marry with a marriage license, your marriage is a creature of the State. It is a corporation of the State! Therefore, they have jurisdiction over your marriage including the fruit of your marriage. What is the fruit of your marriage? Your children and every piece of property you own. There is plenty of case law in American jurisprudence, which declares this to be true. In 1993, parents were upset here in Wisconsin because a test was being administered to their children in the government schools, which was very invasive of the family's privacy. When parents complained, they were shocked by the school bureaucrats who informed them that their children were required to take the test by law and that they would have to take the test because they (the government school) had jurisdiction over their children. When parents asked the bureaucrats what gave them jurisdiction, the bureaucrats answered, "your marriage license and their birth certificates." Judicially, and in increasing fashion, practically, your state marriage license has far-reaching implications.

2. When you marry with a marriage license, you place yourself under a body of law that is immoral. By obtaining a marriage license, you place yourself under the jurisdiction of Family Court that is governed by unbiblical and immoral laws. Under these laws, you can divorce for any reason. Often, the courts side with the spouse who is in rebellion to God, and castigates the spouse who remains faithful by ordering him or her not to speak about the Bible or other matters of faith when present with the children. As a minister, I cannot in good conscience perform a marriage which would place people under this immoral body of laws. I also cannot marry someone with a marriage license because to do so I have to act as an agent of the State! I would have to sign the marriage license, and I would have to mail it into the State. Given the State's demand to usurp the place of God and family regarding marriage, and given it's unbiblical, immoral laws to govern marriage, it would be an act of treason for me to do so.

The marriage license invades and removes God-given parental authority. When you read the Bible, you see that God intended for children to have their father's blessing regarding whom they married. Daughters were to be given in marriage by their fathers (Dt. 22:16; Ex. 22:17; I Cor. 7:38). We have a vestige of this in our culture today in that the father takes his daughter to the front of the altar and the minister asks, "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?" Historically, there was no requirement to obtain a marriage license in colonial America. When you read the laws of the colonies and then the states, you see only two requirements for marriage. First, you had to obtain your parents permission to marry, and second, you had to post public notice of the marriage 5-15 days before the ceremony. Notice you had to obtain your parents permission. Back then you saw godly government displayed in that the State recognized the parents authority by demanding that the parents permission be obtained. Today, the all-encompassing ungodly State demands that their permission be obtained to marry. By issuing marriage licenses, the State is saying, "You don't need your parents permission, you need our permission." If parents are opposed to their child's marrying a certain person and refuse to give their permission, the child can do an end run around the parents authority by obtaining the State's permission, and marry anyway. This is an invasion and removal of God-given parental authority by the State.

When you marry with a marriage license, you are like a polygamist. From the State's point of view, when you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, but you are also marrying the State. The most blatant declaration of this fact that I have ever found is a brochure entitled "With This Ring I Thee Wed." It is found in county courthouses across Ohio where people go to obtain their marriage licenses. It is published by the Ohio State Bar Association. The opening paragraph under the subtitle "Marriage Vows" states, "Actually, when you repeat your marriage vows you enter into a legal contract. There are three parties to that contract. 1.You; 2. Your husband or wife, as the case may be; and 3. the State of Ohio." See the State and the lawyers know that when you marry with a marriage license, you are not just marrying your spouse, you are marrying the State! You are like a polygamist! You are not just making a vow to your spouse, but you are making a vow to the State and your spouse. You are also giving undue jurisdiction to the State. When Does the State Have Jurisdiction Over a Marriage? God intended the State to have jurisdiction over a marriage for two reasons - 1). in the case of divorce, and 2). When crimes are committed i.e., adultery, bigamy. etc. Unfortunately, the State now allows divorce for any reason, and it does not prosecute for adultery. In either case, divorce or crime, a marriage license is not necessary for the courts to determine whether a marriage existed or not. What is needed are witnesses. This is why you have a best man and a maid of honor. They should sign the marriage certificate in your family Bible, and the wedding day guest book should be kept. God instituted marriage, therefore it is a God-given right. According to Scripture, it is to be governed by the family, and the State only has jurisdiction in the cases of divorce or crime. History of Marriage Licenses in America George Washington was married without a marriage license. Abraham Lincoln was married without a marriage license. So, how did we come to this place in America where marriage licenses are issued? Historically, all the states in America had laws outlawing the marriage of blacks and whites. In the mid-1800's, certain states began allowing interracial marriages or miscegenation as long as those marrying received a license from the state. In other words they had to receive permission to do an act which without such permission would have been illegal. Blacks Law Dictionary points to this historical fact when it defines "marriage license" as, "A license or permission granted by public authority to persons who intend to intermarry." "Intermarry" is defined in Black's Law Dictionary as, "Miscegenation; mixed or interracial marriages." Give the State an inch and they will take a 100 miles (or as one elderly woman once said to me "10,000 miles.") Not long after these licenses were issued, some states began requiring all people who marry to obtain a marriage license. In 1923, the Federal Government established the Uniform Marriage and Marriage License Act (they later established the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act). By 1929, every state in the Union had adopted marriage license laws. What Should We Do? Christian couples should not be marrying with State marriage licenses, nor should ministers be marrying people with State marriage licenses. Some have said to me, "If someone is married without a marriage license, then they aren't really married." Given the fact that states may soon legalize same-sex marriages, we need to ask ourselves, "If a man and a man marry with a State marriage license, and a man and woman marry without a State marriage license - who's really married? Is it the two men with a marriage license, or the man and woman without a marriage license? In reality, this contention that people are not really married unless they obtain a marriage license simply reveals how Statist we are in our thinking. We need to think biblically. You should not have to obtain a license from the State to marry someone anymore than you should have to obtain a license from the State to be a parent, which some in academic and legislative circles are currently pushing to be made law. When I marry a couple, I always buy them a Family Bible which contains birth and death records, and a marriage certificate. We record the marriage in the Family Bible. What's recorded in a Family Bible will stand up as legal evidence in any court of law in America. Both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were married without a marriage license. They simply recorded their marriages in their Family Bibles. So should we. (Pastor Trewhella has been marrying couples without marriage licenses for ten years. Many other pastors also refuse to marry couples with State marriage licenses. This pamphlet is not comprehensive in scope. Rather, the purpose of this pamphlet is to make you think and give you a starting point to do further study of your own.

Testimonial of a Married couple without a state license:

Gordon Phillips writes: Dear Scott, I am writing with regard to the inquiry below which you received pertaining to the "marriage license". The best question that budding (and engaged) patriots can ask themselves on this topic is this: "Is our desire to marry each other a common law covenant of inalienable Right ordained and blessed by God, or a state regulated privilege granted by Caesar upon application for permission?" As we used to say in grade school "three guesses and the first two don't count!" My best friend and now wife, Marlena, and I married each other on October 23, 1996. We had no "blood test" (we already knew we contained blood). We made no paperwork "application" to Caesar for a "license" for "permission" to wed. Heck, we just did it! (like Americans always used to). In a beautiful, emotional ceremony in front of a roomful of people. Bill Huff, Sr. - editor of the Save-A-Patriot Fellowship's newsletter "Reasonable Action" - rendered an inspired rendition of the Lord's Prayer a capella in a basso profundo that left everyone sniffling and dabbing their eyes. You could have heard a pin drop. It was absolutely beautiful. Afterwards, we made an entry in the family Bible and had several witnesses execute affidavits. Even typed ourselves up a real fancy looking "Marriage Certificate" with gold borders and all! In case any bureaucrat should ever be so confused as to wonder whether we're "really" married or not, we even have it on video, including at the end when I scooped Marlena up in my arms and carried her back down the aisle and right out of the room! The whole idea of applying to Caesar for "permission" to marry, then standing there at the altar with a straight face while the designated clergy proclaims the incantation "by the authority vested in me by the State of: I hereby declare you man and wife", thereby in effect sprinkling "Magic Marriage Dust" all over the two of you and alleging that you're married ONLY BECAUSE "the Governor says it's OK" is comical if not ludicrous. BTW, our marriage has stuck even without ohh-fisshul state approval ;-). And we now have a non-government-approved, five-month-old, bouncing baby boy with no SSN applied for, no birth certificate applied for, no spare parts removed that God intended, no injected innoculations of mysterious and experimental substances alleged to convey non-existent immunity, and nothing but Mommy Milk to account for his cheerful, rosy-cheeked good disposition. Shucks, I guess now we'll have to home-educate him too. Perhaps Casear would like to come over for some history lessons! ;-) God bless and take care.

Marriage License By: David Deschesne, with contributions by Jay Rutledge from: Encyclopedia of Advanced American Civics, ©2004 David R. Deschesne Introduction

Marriage License A marriage license is a three-party contract between the man, woman, and the State known as an adhesion contract. An adhesion contract is one which is extremely one-sided, grossly favoring the State. From weakness in bargaining position, ignorance, or indifference, couples are willing to enter into the marriage transaction controlled by this lopsided legal document.
When a couple applies for a license from the State to marry, they are actually asking for permission to engage in the illegal activity of marriage (License - permission granted by a competent authority to engage in an activity that would otherwise be illegal - Black’s Law 7th ed). By entering into a State-sanctioned franchise (marriage) as a married couple, this couple forfeits their rights to a private, sovereign marriage and any ownership of their children or property; as a result of the marriage license. Child Protective Services receives its full power and authority to seize children via the marriage license under the ancient legal doctrine of parens patriae.

“The origins of the doctrine parens patriae and the law can be traced to medieval and late medieval English chancery courts where it played an important roll in maintaining the structure of feudalism. The King had a royal prerogative to act as guardian to persons with legal disabilities such as infants, idiots, and lunatics. Chancery, as an agent of the monarch, had a duty to maintain the orderly transfer of feudal duties from one generation to another and to insure that there would be someone available to perform these duties and the concept of parens patriae was usually invoked in connection with problems of property or guardianship.” - Black’s Law, 5th ed.

When a State-licensed married couple has a child, the Birth Certificate is the document the State uses to claim ownership of the child under its marriage contract. State ownership remains as long as that child lives, even after the age of 21. If you have a birth certificate, the State owns you, too.

Speaking of children. If you go to a hospital to have your child the hospital staff will ask very kindly “what is the baby’s name?” If you tell them they will use that info to issue a Social Security Number to that child. They will act as an agent of the State against you and to your child’s harm. “Tell them you have not decided on a name yet.” They will want to know who the father is and what his name is. Answer: Unknown. Do not provide the hospital authorities acting as state agents any info. If they want you to sign anything, tell them to talk to your husband. American Nationals are not required to have a SSN! Only foreign nationals and US citizens are required to have a SSN. If you don’t know what a US citizen is you better look it up.

Couples married under a state-sanctioned marriage license also give up 1/3 of their property to the state. Should one person die, the State, through the inheritance tax, will demand the surviving party to “buy them out” - usually a 28- 35% tax.

Marriage licenses were never required prior to the early 1900s, also known as the “Devolutionary Period”. The only requirement for a legitimate marriage was that the couple be married by an official minister of God, and place their intentions to marry in a public place, such as a church, parish, or town meeting house for all to see. That notice was then to be filed with the county clerk. No license, or certificate required. All couples considering marriage should decide in advance if they wish to form a union under God, or under man. Now that the facts regarding man’s plan have been established, a couple can make a more educated decision.

Marriage License,Child Protective Services & Spouse: Title of Nobility

Marriage License

When Maine was first formed as a state in 1821, the act of marriage was much simpler and less evasive than it is today. There was no licensing scheme, no Child Protective Services, and, while the State did prohibit those types of marriages denounced in the Holy Bible, there was otherwise very little state interference. The only requirement for marriage was that all people desiring to be joined in marriage, shall have their intentions published at three public religious meetings for about three weeks or they could have the town Clerk publish such intentions in a public place for the same amount of time. Once that criteria was met, the Clerk would issue a certificate certifying that the intentions were published.1 The original marriage laws were similar in nature to ancient Roman civil law, where the government’s only interest in marriage was the fact that it was announced publicly. The ancient Roman government issued no certificates and played little part in the initial marriage agreement.2 Today, the state of Maine has declared marriage to be an illegal, regulatable enterprise, much like fishing, hunting, and selling cars. All who wish to be married must be licensed to do so. Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th edition defines license as:

“A revocable permission to commit some act that would otherwise be unlawful.”

Even though weddings are conducted in a church setting with a providential backdrop, virtually all pastors and preachers marry a couple with authority vested in them by the State, rather than God and make that proclamation and the end of every ceremony.3

The marriage license is a permission granted by the state of Maine to commit the unlawful act of marriage, in direct conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of liberty. In 1923, the Supreme Court defined liberty as, among other things, “...the ability to freely marry, establish a home, and bring up children.”4 Today, we need a license to do those unlawful acts. After all, that which the state licenses it can thereby regulate. The license is then converted into a certificate after the marriage takes place.5 Baron’s Banking Dictionary defines a certificate as “a paper establishing an ownership claim.” The state of Maine transformed the passive act of the clerk certifying publication of marriage intentions to the active act of granting permission via the certificate in 1909 when the clerk was then authorized to hold the certificate for five days after intentions were filed with him and the marriage could ensue only after the certificate was issued.6 The withholding of a certificate was then a de-facto license. One of the main reasons the marriage certificate changed its character was the fact that the Panic of 1907 had just taken place and Senator Nelson Aldrich had been appointed to head the National Monetary Commission to ensure such panics never took place again. Senator Aldrich’s plan was ultimately realized in the Federal Reserve System of debt-based money we all suffer under today. Because the money system proposed was debt-based, the state and federal government needed to have certificated property that produced wealth that they could pledge as collateral for notes in the upcoming debt money system. In 1903 only a few states had adopted a marriage license scheme.7 By 1935, all states required licenses except Maryland, which soon followed shortly thereafter.8

Child Protective Services

Child Protective Services The fact that a certificate for a married couple is commercial paper that can be used to pledge the future expenditure of labor of the married couple against the State’s borrowed money was only half the equation. By entering into a State-sanctioned franchise (marriage) as a married couple, a couple forfeits their rights to a private, sovereign marriage and any ultimate control of their children or marriage-related property; as a result of the marriage license. Child Protective Services receives its full power and authority to seize children via the marriage license under the ancient legal doctrine of parens patriae. According to Black’s Law, 5th edition:

“The origins of the doctrine parens patriae and the law can be traced to medieval and late medieval English chancery courts where it played an important roll in maintaining the structure of feudalism. The King had a royal prerogative to act as guardian to persons with legal disabilities such as infants, idiots, and lunatics. Chancery, as an agent of the monarch, had a duty to maintain the orderly transfer of feudal duties from one generation to another and to insure that there would be someone available to perform these duties and the concept of parens patriae was usually invoked in connection with problems of property or guardianship.”

In today’s world, the Department of Human Services functions as the Chancery, or agent of the monarch - which is the State - in orderly transferring the feudal duties of labor to generate a tax base on to future generations.

When a State-licensed married couple has a child, the Birth Certificate is the document the State uses to claim ownership of the child under its marriage contract. State ownership remains as long as that child lives, even after the age of 21. If you have a birth certificate, the State owns you, too. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, and automobile Certificates of Title are just some of the commercial paper the State government uses to collateralize their debt to the banks for all of the bond issues the people vote for. These certificates are serial numbered so the banks can more easily track them and all conform to the rules of negotiable instruments as outlined in the Uniform Commercial Code.9 You and your family have, in effect, been pledged as chattel to the banks for the State’s and Federal Government’s debts. Couples married under a state-sanctioned marriage license also give up 1/3 of their property to the state. Should one person die, the government, through the inheritance tax, will demand the surviving party to “buy them out” - usually a 28- 35% tax. YOU are the one who gave Child Protective Services permission to steal your children. Since the State can regulate that which it licenses, Child Protective Services has mushroomed into a money making machine by snatching kids and receiving millions of federal dollars for them. Child Protective Services has no interest in reuniting families because by keeping the family unit off balance, under constant worry and financial drain, the people of a state are more easily controlled, taxed and herded like sheep by the governmental power. A State who has strong, responsible families with good morals, an understanding of right and wrong, and the time to focus on solutions to state abuses would never be able to get away with the massive confiscatory taxation and licensing schemes the Maine government, as well as all other states, enjoys perpetrating against us today. Child Protective services receives its authority to kidnap children from the child’s parents the moment a marriage license was applied for and granted. The child is placed in a guardian/ward relationship with the state where the parents function merely as “custodians.” That custodial relationship may be terminated by the authorizing state agency whenever it declares the child is not being raised according to the standards established by the State. The Maine CPS can sue the parents on behalf of the child based on Rule 17 (a) of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure which states, in part,

“An executor, administrator, guardian, bailee, trustee of an express trust, a party with whom or in whose name a contract has been made for the benefit of another, or a party authorized by statute may sue in that person’s own name without joining the party for whose benefit the action is brought.”

So, Maine can sue on behalf of the child without using the child’s name because you, the parents, gave the state guardianship over your child with the marriage license making the State a "trustee in an express trust". We never had a Child Protective Services protecting our Children for at least the first 140 years of our existence, because assault on a child was already illegal and dealt with by the County Sheriff. If a child needed to be removed to a safer environment, he was brought to one of many privately funded homes which had to compete for money from the private sector. This competition forced the homes to maintain extremely high standards and, due to the limitation of funds, resolving family problems and reuniting the child with his family was of primary importance. Unlike today’s State-administered system of bureaucratic red tape, and drugging programs that will damage a child for the rest of his or her life and ultimately alienate him from his family.

Marriage licenses were never required prior to the early 1900s, also known as the “Devolutionary Period”. The only requirement for a legitimate marriage was that the couple be married by an official minister of God, and place their intentions to marry in a public place, such as a church, parish, or town meeting house for all to see. That notice was then to be filed with the county clerk. No license, or certificate was required. Even today, Maine authorizes those in the Quaker communities and similar religious organizations to marry according to their own rules, without a marriage license, and simply record the act of marriage with the town clerk. All couples considering marriage should decide in advance if they wish to form a union under God, or under man. Now that the facts regarding man’s plan have been established, a couple can make a more educated decision.

Spouse Status: Title of Nobility

The right freely to marry existed unabridged in America for so long as marriage was strictly a private, contractual matter. The Constitution protected liberty and obligation of contract from interference by the States and the Statute of Frauds required any agreement made upon consideration of Marriage to be contracted in writing. However, legislating respecting status was not so well limited in the original constitution. This was remedied by 1819 by ratification by Virginia of an amendment to the constitution. This amendment not only settled the status of citizens of the United States, which the King of England had contested by impressing American sailors of British descent which caused the War of 1812, it also erected a formidable barrier to foreign power influence and to legislating on status. The penalty for violation was loss of citizenship. From 1819 until after the civil war, the amendment of 1819 was part of the law of the land. But, by 1900, for reasons unknown, the amendment of 1819 was no longer published as part of the Constitution. The way was clear for legislating concerning status.

Contract was protected from the legislature by the Constitution. Status was not unless it was a title of nobility. It is the status of marriage which it is illegal to claim without the license to that status which is regulated and sold by the state. Of course, feudalism was also founded on status. The marriage license is really a title of nobility, not hereditary but purchased. The idea that titles of nobility can only be hereditary is a judicial limitation on the Constitution that opened the door to status purchased from the State. Jefferson was so right about the judicial department being the sappers and miners at work deep out of sight undermining the republic and liberty. What will the State not license? The title of marriage, which is Spouse, is a licensed title of status purchased from the State and nothing more, as the news from Massachusetts shows. It was in Massachusetts that the judicially managed imposition of status onto the contract of marriage took place. It is by the conferring of status that the State becomes a party to marriage.

The New World Order is Feudalism based on money power and hired sword power, an advancement over the crude medieval original which was based on sword power alone. Of course, attorneys were essential parasites to feudalism then as they are now. The esquires are back among us. And marriage is now in Massachusetts a civil sacrament of the established civil and secular religion of the State and a title for sale.

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