Note 379 — Chapter XII · OBLIGATORY CIVIL MARRIAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
Reading edition
"To make a law that marriage should not be solemnized by ministers is repugnant to the laws of England; but to bring it a custom by practice for the magistrate to perform it is by no law made repugnant."—Winthrop, Hist. of New England, II, 313, 314 (382). Cf. Cook, in Atlantic Monthly, LXI, 351.