A civil contract
Marriage, so far as its validity at law is concerned, is
a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties capable
in law of contracting is essential, and which creates the
legal status of husband and wife.
(Wisconsin Statutes Ann. section 765.01)
Who shall not marry; divorced persons
(1) No marriage shall be contracted while either of the
parties has a husband or wife living, nor between persons
who are nearer of kin than 2nd cousins except that marriage
may be contracted between first cousins where the female
has attained the age of 55 years or where either party,
at the time of application for a marriage license, submits
an affidavit signed by a physician stating that either party
is permanently sterile. Relationship under this section
shall be computed by the rule of the civil law, whether
the parties to the marriage are of the half or of the whole
blood. A marriage may not be contracted if either party
has such want of understanding as renders him or her incapable
of assenting to marriage.
(2) It is unlawful for any person, who is or has been a
party to an action for divorce in any court in this state,
or elsewhere, to marry again until 6 months after judgment
of divorce is granted, and the marriage of any such person
solemnized before the expiration of 6 months from the date
of the granting of judgment of divorce shall be void.
(Wisconsin Statutes Ann. section 765.03)
Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.
(Wisconsin Constitution, approved by 59% of voters on Tuesday, November 7, 2006)
McConkey v. Van Hollen, Case No. 2008AP1868
Plaintiff is a university professor with limited ties to the homosexual community (i.e., he has a daughter that is practicing a lesbian lifestyle and he serves as a president for a local chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). He argues that the enactment of Article 13, section 13, which states that Wisconsin will recognize only marriages between one man and one woman, violated the constitutional provision that prohibits a constitutional amendment from addressing more than one subject. On July 24, 2008, McConkey filed an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, after county circuit court rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s marriage amendment. Van Hollen filed cross-appeal. The Court of Appeals certified the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for clarification on the standing issue. The Supreme Court has announced that they will hear the case.
