There are a couple of pleasant duties that fall within my
job description. Uniting a couple in
marriage is one such duty.
As an official judicial duty, a judge may marry people in
the courthouse, during office hours, at no charge to the couple (except, of
course, for the marriage license). I
cannot put off regularly scheduled court cases to perform a wedding, but we can
usually find a few minutes during the day to recite the vows.
Wedding parties have arrived at the courthouse in suits and wedding
dresses and in jeans and t-shirts. They
have come with friends and family and I have had to recruit a best man and maid
of honor from the court staff to witness the wedding. Some have been so young that I have had to
sign an order to permit the County
Recorder to issue a
marriage license. One groom was in
handcuffs, as the jail had brought him to the courthouse to marry his
fiancée. On another occasion, I went to
a jail to perform the ceremony for a man who had been sentenced to life in
prison for murder.
On other occasions, I have been asked to perform weddings
away from the courthouse and outside of regular business hours. For these weddings, a judge is permitted to
charge a fee for services.
I have performed weddings at golf courses and restaurants;
at parks and in living rooms and in back yards.
One of my memorable weddings was performed on an island in Lake Minnetonka!
There are no magic words or a required script to memorialize
a marriage ceremony. The form I have
used is brief and to the point. As I
tell folks who ask, it will take about five and a half minutes, “if I talk real
slow.”
Some couples will write their own vows, which is very
nice. Others will have an appropriate
reading. Music may be a part of the
service, but often is not.
I will tell the couples and their guests that marriage is
regarded as a civil contract that imposes duties on each of them. I ask them to promise that they will love and
honor, comfort and cherish each other so long as they both shall live.
And I end the ceremony by pronouncing “by the power vested
in me by the state of Minnesota,
I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
That’s a pretty nice duty that judges are asked to perform!
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Next Week: Do Some
Justice
