According to New Mexico (NMSA 40-1-1)
"Marriage is contemplated by the law as a civil contract, for which the consent of the contracting parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential."
"The essence of the contract of marriage is the consent of the parties, as in the case of any other contract; and, whenever there is present. perfect consent to be husband and wife, the contract of marriage is completed."- Justice Mitchell, Hulett V. Carey, Minnesota Supreme Court, 1896.
A marriage “allows two people to find a life that could not be found alone, for a marriage becomes greater than just the two persons.” (576 U.S. (2015))
In New Mexico: 40-1-6. Restrictions on marriage of minors.
A. The county clerk shall not issue a marriage license to an unemancipated person sixteen or seventeen years of age, and no person authorized by the laws of this state to solemnize marriages shall knowingly unite in marriage any person sixteen or seventeen years of age, unless the minor first receives the written consent of each of the minor's living parents as shown on the minor's certificate of birth, or the district court has authorized the marriage of such person upon request of a parent or legal guardian of the person for good cause shown, and a certified copy of the judicial authorization is filed with the county clerk.
1664–September 20, Colonial Maryland passes the “first colonial ‘anti-amalgamation law‘,” which provided that “whatsoever free-born [English] woman shall intermarry with any slave . . . shall serve the master of such slave during the life of her husband; and that all the issue of such free-born women, so married shall be slaves as their fathers.”
1865—Black Codes were issued by the states in the South, during the Reconstruction Era, subsequent to the Civil War with the aim of limiting the freedoms of the newly emancipated African Americans. Among those limitations was interracial marriage.
1948—Pérez v. Sharp–(32 Cal. 2d 711)–Decided at the Supreme Court of California, this becomes the first case to find that anti-miscegenation laws in the United States were a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. During the case, the California Civil Code of 1872 § 60 was cited. It provides that “Marriages, illegal. All marriages of white persons with negroes, mongolians, or mulattoes are illegal and void.”
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"Blood tests required by statutes vary from state to state, but the most commonly required ones are for syphilis, sickle cell anemia, infectious or genetic diseases, rh compatibility, or tuberculosis." (Greenfield, 7)
Poster from the Library of Congress https://lccn.loc.gov/98518378
You cannot marry in New Mexico if:
Morrill Act (1862).
This act, titled An Act to punish and prevent the Practice of Polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other Places, and disapproving and annulling certain Acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, was passed to prevent people from claiming multiple spouses.
1882-1887- Bigamy, Polygamy, and which wife counts?
"The Edmunds Act of 1882 made polygamy a felony and took away the right to vote, hold office, or serve on a jury from anyone engaged in a polygamous relationship." -Response to Anti-Polygamy Legislation
"The term "lawful wife," wherever used in this statute. shall be held to mean, in all cases of Mormon or plural marriages, the first wife; and such wife only shall be entitled to dower under this act on the death of her husband."
In the past, marriage had significant impact on the life and rights of women. Having a relationship recognized or not recognized was important.
In 1877 US Supreme Court heard a case on inheritance in a common law marriage in Meister v. Moore. In this case a man died without a will and the common law wife and the mother of the deceased both claimed the property. There were marriage laws in Michigan (where marriage took place) and the judges decided that because the law did not state common law marriages invalid, the marriage was valid.
In re GABALDON'S ESTATE. GABALDON vs. GABALDON, 1934
"We think that irregular marriage is now, and has been in the past, as little practiced in New Mexico as elsewhere. In 1860 the non-Catholic population was inconsiderable. The edicts of the church were deemed highly binding upon conscience. Marriage was generally regarded as a sacrament. The Act of 1860 reflects the view that the law of the church in that regard was the law of the state. No doubt, with the influx of men from the east, irregular alliances were formed with native women, some of them perhaps marriages according to the common law. This situation was rather effectively cleared up by the Edmonds-Tucker Act (USCA title 18, § 519), in force here from 1887 until statehood. While it did not itself effect the invalidity of any marriage or attempted marriage, it was in fact rigorously enforced, resulting in {*397} the postponed celebration of many, and in discouraging future alliances except according to the forms of law."
"[T]he doctrine of informal marriage favors the harlot and the adventuress and paves the way for them to claim the rights of common-law widow upon the death of some man of wealth." (1998, Dubler)
Dubler, A. R. (1998). Governing Through Contract: Common Law Marriage in the Nineteenth Century. The Yale Law Journal, 107(6), 1885–1920. https://doi.org/10.2307/797340
Davis, Jennifer. Marriage Equality in the US, https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/06/marriage-equality-in-the-us/
Greenfield, Gary E., Author, Susan E Watkins, and U.S.. Global Legal Research Directorate Law Library Of Congress. Doing Research in Current Marriage and Divorce Law: Guide and Selective Annotated Bibliography. [Washington, D.C.: The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Directorate, 1991] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021699839/.
Koegel, Otto E. Common law marriage and its development in the United States, John Byrne & Company, Washington, 1922.
May, Geoffery, Marriage laws and decisions in the United States, a manual, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1929.
Robinson, G. (2008) United States: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Held Unconstitutional in California. [Web Page] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2008-05-02/united-states-same-sex-marriage-ban-held-unconstitutional-in-california/.
Saether, Steinar A. Bourbon Absolutism and Marriage Reform in Late Colonial Spanish America. The Americas, Vol. 59, No. 4, Cambridge University Press, April 2003.