Wedded bliss.  Some achieve it, some don’t.  We hear a lot about what you should do when you’re planning a wedding – from centerpiece ideas to prenuptial agreements – but we don’t hear much about the weird marriage-related laws that nobody bothered to repeal.  In this case, there is a reason nobody repealed it – people still use it!

Marriage By Proxy

Reportedly, in Montana two people can get hitched even if they don’t show up to the ceremony.  A website that facilitates this even today.  Montana, indeed has a law where both parties can wed without appearing, but Texas, Colorado, and California have a law where only one person has to show up.  In California, the only people who can do this are military personnel who are deployed and their intended.

This law came about in Montana back in the mid-1800′s when there were a bunch of miners moving into the mining towns.  They still wanted to marry their fiances, but it was hard to get around back then, so Montana enacted this law so they could.  I guess, even if a guy wanted to stay in the mines all day while his sweetie was back in Ohio or something he could – the double proxy law meant that neither party had to be present.

Today this law is mainly used for armed forces members who are deployed.  Why they wouldn’t want to wait to do it in person, I don’t know, but since there is a service out there that facilitates this type of thing, I guess it’s more common than you would think.

Watch out, however, if you are from Iowa.  Iowa does not recognize a proxy marriage.

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photo by asplosh

In my search for the wacky, unexplainable laws in this world, I run across a lot of state and city laws regarding animals.  I’m particularly fond of the one in Denver, Colorado that says that it is illegal to mistreat rats.

First off, I’d like to say that I agree with this law.  Rats get a bad rap.  “You dirty rat” and other such insults are usually directed at creatures far more despicable than the actual furry creatures.  I had a pet rat my first year of college, and she was a delightful companion.  She would ride on my shoulder and curl her little tail over my ear.  It was sweet.

Anyhow, it turns out that the fine people of PETA have even more nice things to say about rats.  I’m going to do some direct quoting here, so you get the full strength of PETA’s love for these members of the genus Rattus.

Here are some quotes, direct from an article about PETA:

“Rats are intelligent, sensitive and friendly animals who bear the brunt of human fears and prejudices”
Rats are “fastidiously clean animals who groom themselves throughout the day.”
“They naturally have a pleasant perfume-like smell.”
“The rodents are smart and can learn to recognize their names and respond when called”
“Rats laugh and express joy”
“Recent studies have shown that when rats play or are playfully tickled, they make chirping sounds that are strikingly similar to human laughter.”
“Rats who live with people often seek touch play or tickling, in much the same way that dogs and cats do.”

I can’t vouch for the laughing thing.  My rat did sneeze a lot, so maybe that was her version of laughing.  I never tickled her, so I can’t verify that peace of information.  I do know that she looked pretty joyful when I gave her a piece of cheese, and she pretty much groomed herself all day.  She sure didn’t smell like perfume, but she didn’t smell awful either.  In fact, my dog smells worse than she did.

So, the whole point here is to not be mean to rats.  Don’t mistreat them.  I think that’s a pretty good rule to follow for all creatures.  Good law – don’t mistreat things.  Period.

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