The United States Of Brazil

: Japanese Fairy Tales

The United States of Brazil (Estados Unidos do Brazil), the largest

country in South America and one of the most extensive political

subdivisions of the world, is a Republic comprising twenty States and a

Federal District.



Its present constitution was adopted February 24, 1891, and is in many

respects similar to that of the United States of America.



The legislative power is vested in the Pre ident of the Republic and a

National Congress, consisting of a Senate and Chamber of Deputies.



The individual States are governed by their governors and legislatures,

and possess their own judicial systems.



The main body of the civil law has its origin in the Portuguese Code and

in the judicial precedents of Portugal.



There is a Supreme Federal Court of Justice, which sits at the capital,

Rio de Janeiro, and Federal Courts in each of the twenty States.



Ninety-nine per centum of the people of Brazil are Roman Catholics and

consider marriage as a religious sacrament, but the law of the land

considers it simply as a civil contract.



MARRIAGE.--The Civil Code defines marriage as a perpetual contract between

two persons of different sex to live together and establish a legitimate

family.



A civil or legal celebration of marriage is compulsory for all persons,

irrespective of race or creed. If after the civil marriage the parties may

desire to satisfy their consciences and the mandates of their church or

sect by having the marriage solemnized in a religious form, there is no

legal objection thereto.



Marriage is forbidden:



1. Of minors under the age of 21 years, unless with parental consent.



2. Of persons of adult age who are incapable of properly governing

themselves or their estates, without the authorization of their legal

representatives.



3. Of an adulterous wife with her accomplice who has been condemned for

the offence.



4. Of a wife or widow who has been condemned as the principal or

accomplice of the crime of homicide with a principal or accomplice in the

same crime.



5. Of a person bound by solemn vows of religion to a life of chastity.



The canon law of the Roman Catholic Church is accepted as defining the

religious rules and spiritual effects of marriage, but the civil law

defines the status and temporal effects of the marriage contract.



PROHIBITED MARRIAGES.--The following persons are forbidden to marry each

other:



1. Ascendants and descendants.



2. Persons related collaterally in the second degree.



3. Males who have not completed their fourteenth year and females who have

not completed their twelfth year of age.



4. Persons already bound by marriage.



PRELIMINARIES.--The intending parties must present themselves in person

before the registrar and produce certificates showing:



A. Full names, ages, occupations and domiciles of the contracting

parties.



B. The full names, ages, occupations and domiciles of their parents, or,

if they are dead, the same particulars of those who replace them in loco

parentis.



C. Proof of the consents of such persons who in law are entitled to give

or withhold consent to the proposed marriage.



D. A declaration in writing by two respectable witnesses of full age,

certifying acquaintance with the contracting parties, and knowledge that

they are not related within the prohibited degrees of kinship.



If either of the contracting parties has been previously married, proof of

the death of the former spouse must be given to the registrar.



Upon receiving satisfactory proof as stated above, the registrar must post

a notice of the proposed marriage in a conspicuous place in his office,

which notice informs all interested persons to file their objections, if

any they have, in the registry within fifteen days. If at the end of this

period no valid objection to the marriage has been formulated the civil

officer proceeds to the celebration of the marriage.



A marriage concluded before a civil officer in the form established by the

civil law of Brazil can only be annulled by a civil court.



DIVORCE.--The law of the Republic does not permit of an absolute divorce

for any cause whatsoever. A true marriage can only be dissolved by the

death of one of the parties.



JUDICIAL SEPARATION.--A separation of the person and goods may be had for

the following causes:



1. Adultery of the wife.



2. Adultery of the husband, if such adultery creates a public scandal, or

if the husband brings his concubine into the home he has established for

his wife.



3. Sentence of one of the spouses to life imprisonment.



4. Cruel and ill-human treatment.



FOREIGN MARRIAGES.--The courts of Brazil recognize as valid a marriage

between two foreigners concluded in a foreign land, provided that such

marriage is monogamous, is not between ascendants or descendants, or

between persons related collaterally in the second degree, and if such

marriage was regularly concluded according to the law of the country of

its celebration.



A marriage abroad of a citizen of the Republic of Brazil must conform not

only to the law of the place of its celebration, but must also be in

strict accordance with the law of Brazil.