Note 1313 — Chapter XVI · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF MARRIAGE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903

Code of W. Va. (1900), 656.

The Rev. Code of S. C. (1873), 441, contains the provision that if any "woman, child or maiden, being above the age of twelve years, and under the age of sixteen years, do at any time consent or agree to any contract of matrimony," against the will or without the knowledge of parent or guardian, "by secret letters, messages, or otherwise," she shall forfeit her estate, including lands, tenements, and hereditaments, "to the next of kin who next would inherit, during the life of the offender, then to the one who would have inherited had there been no such child."