One more example:
Not old enough to vote, drink alcohol or smoke a cigarette. But old enough 
to get married. 


Court: 15-year-old girls can marry 
Colorado recognizes common-law marriages

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A 15-year-old girl can enter into a common-law 
marriage in Colorado, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. Younger girls 
and boys may also be able to marry.

While the three-judge panel stopped short of setting a specific minimum age 
for such marriages, it said they could be legal for girls at 12 and boys at 
14 under English common law, which Colorado recognizes. 

The ruling overturned a lower-court judge's decision that a girl, who is 
now older than 18, was too young to marry when she was 15. The panel said 
there was no clear legislative or statutory guidance on common-law 
marriages, and that Colorado courts have not determined an age of consent. 

Colorado is one of 10 states, plus the District of Columbia, that recognize 
common-law marriage, which is based on English law dating back hundreds of 
years. 

For traditional ceremonial marriage, Colorado law sets the minimum age at 
18, or 16 with parental or judicial approval. 

"It appears that Colorado has adopted the common-law age of consent for 
marriage as 14 for a male and 12 for a female, which existed under English 
common law," the ruling said. "Nevertheless, we need only hold here that a 
15-year-old female may enter into a valid common-law marriage." 

The appeal was filed by Willis Rouse, 38, who is serving time for escape 
and a parole violation. He argued that he and the girl began living 
together in April 2002 and applied for a marriage license a year later. The 
girl had become legally independent by then, but her mother also consented 
to the marriage and accompanied the girl and Rouse to obtain a license, the 
ruling said. 

A judge invalidated the marriage, saying anybody under age 16 needed 
judicial approval for either common-law or ceremonial marriage. 

While Thursday's ruling found that the girl was old enough to marry, it did 
not conclude whether she and Rouse have a valid marriage. The court sent 
the case back to the trial judge to make that determination. 

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