Chap. 14.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 5078 of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to the issuance of marriage licenses for certain
persons under twenty-one years of age. [fH B 25]

Approved February 12, 1942

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
five thousand and seventy-eight of the Code of Virginia, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 5078. When consent of parent or guardian necessary ; how
given.—If any person intending to marry be under twenty-one years of
age, and has not been previously married, the consent of the father or
guardian, or if there be none, of the mother of such person, shall be given
either personally to the clerk or judge, or in writing subscribed by a wit-
ness, who shall make oath before the clerk or judge that said writing was
signed or acknowledged in his presence by such father, guardian, or
mother, as the case may be, or the writing shall be acknowledged before
a notary public or some person authorized to take acknowledgments to
deeds under the laws of this State, which acknowledgment shall be prop-
erly certified by such officer. If there be no father, guardian, or mother,
or if such person be abandoned by his or her parents, the judge of the
circuit court of the county, or of the corporation court of the city wherein
the female resides, either in term or vacation, or the clerk or deputy clerk
of such court, may, on the application of the person intending to marry,
properly certified, authorize a marriage license to be issued, or issue the
same, as the case may be. For the purpose of giving consent under the
provisions of this section, an insane father or an insane mother, shall
be treated as if there were no father or mother, or father and mother, as
the case may be. ,

If any such person under twenty-one years of age be a ward of the
State by virtue of having been adjudicated a delinquent, dependent, or
neglected child, the consent required by this section shall be given by the
judge or justice having jurisdiction to control the custody of such person ;
or, if such person so adjudicated shall have been committed to the State
Board of Public Welfare or to any society, association, or institution ap-
proved by it for this purpose, such consent shall be given personally by
the Commissioner of Public Welfare or by some person thereto authorized
by him, or by the principal executive officer of such society, association,
or institution, as the case may be, such authorization to be in writing, at-
tested or acknowledged as hereinabove provided.