Legal Research

Yahoo reports that because of an extraneous "not" that no one noticed when the Arkansas legislative session ended last year, the state accidentally removed the minimum age requirement for marriage, which meant that any children under the age of 18 could marry with parental permission.  The state had intended to adjust the marriage age requirement and make it 18 for all, but last week they took advantage of a special session to simply return the requirement to what it was before the mistake (17 for boys and 16 for girls).

Rep. Will Bond, who sponsored the bad bill, took the blame. "I always thought if you put your name on a bill, you should be ready to take the blame if you're willing to accept the credit," he said.

Hat tip: jennielaw at law.librarians