Did your Priest perform the marriage without you having to first get a license from your county clerk? I’m asking this out of curiosity, since most people have their clergy sign the marriage certificate and the clergy then directly sends the certificate back to the county clerk to file.
Yes, but as you can read in my earlier post: The Government wrote a law that said I must first pay their fee/tax for the privilege of having my marriage listed in their database. They, in no way, “marry” me.
That the Priest signs the license proves that his actions are sacrosanct and above the authority of the state’s ability to marry me. Some people have a Justice of the Peace sign their license, but he is only filling the role of a priest in the absence of one.
I can get a marriage license and then never file it. If it is never filed then I am not married in the view of the government’s own legal rules and system. However, many states already recognize common law spouses and/or civil unions. These occur outside of the State marriage license process and are legal in a court of law.
If the government removed themselves from the marriage process it would not end marriage or marital contract law.
Now, let me be clear: I’m arguing all of this, but my original point is still very simple: “My priest married me. Not my Mayor.”
I am not advocating the removal of the marriage license process. Just debating whom actually marries you versus who licenses you and that one is more important than the other. And that one could vanish and it would not matter, legally speaking.