Contrary to your column of some years ago [More of the Straight Dope, page 329], there is authority that a marriage performed by a ship’s captain on the high seas is valid. In Fisher v. Fisher in 1929 the New York Court of Appeals (the state’s highest court) held that “in the absence of any such law which condemned the marriage …” such a marriage was valid. The court also reasoned that Congress “had recognized that on board a ship at sea … there is … a law of marriage,” because Congress had enacted a statute requiring a vessel’s master to keep a log book recording every marriage taking place on board. (There is still such a statute.) Fisher is still reported as good law in Corpus Juris Secundum, although other authorities are to the contrary. –John Ratnaswamy, Chicago
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Oh, God, not Fisher v. Fisher. The case is one of those freaks that crop up frequently in marriage law and make it impossible to offer any sweeping statement, about ships’ captains or anything else, without having it studded through with asterisks and qualifications.
There are still some states that recognize common-law marriage. Typically all that’s necessary is that the parties (1) be legally free to marry (e.g., no undissolved prior marriages), (2) properly consent, (3) “cohabit” (do it), (4) live together, and (5) let the neighbors think they’re married. (Contrary to common belief, it is not necessary that the couple live together for seven years.)
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
