No one outside a court knows or cares if you have paperwork 'legalizing' your wife. They only know you call her your wife. That practical reality is also the common law reality.
True,
@rockfox, up until the bold part. Although it once was. This is where the part that some refuse to acknowledge comes in, in multiple stages.
First, the US/English 'common law' (see
Blackstone) still exists, but has been largely SUPPLANTED by the UCC. (The terms "without prejudice" in a contract, among other reservations, can indicate 'choice of law.' WITHOUT such an explicit reservation, most 'courts' will PRESUME the choice of law FOR you. It's called a 'rebuttable presumption,' but you had better know to do it first.)
For those here who actually want to search something a bit more difficult out for themselves, look up the UCC citations:
UCC 1-207. Oops. That one got changed. It seems there may have been attempt to hide some things. The designation was changed to UCC 1-308. Interestingly, most on-line resources seem to skip over it. (Cornell still has it:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/1/1-308)
Use of the fiat 'dollar' in a transaction results in a presumption of the UCC (this is part of that pesky "adherent" element that the blind just won't see.) The only way to NOT 'waive' those common law Rights is to reserve them, hence the "Sufficiency of the Reservation," sign "Without Prejudice".
Is reservation of once constitutionally-protected but still God-given Rights sufficient in a police state? That's stage two...
Ask the people who thought they had a right to "petitition the government for a redress of grievance," or a 'speedy trial,' or 'counsel,' or to compel production of evidence, or witnesses in their favor (video of J6 anyone?)
So, do we just give up and eat mealworms? How about 'making war with the Beast?'
I have suggested, and will continue to, that there is an option in accord with His Word. "Come out of her, My people..." - Revelation 18:4 (and others). No, it's not 'magic'. We should know better. But it is a walk of faith in Him.
But, if you willfully REJECT the protection of YHVH by a 'choice of law' contrary to Him...you really are on your own.
People try to make what should be simple complicated, so as to continue to walk in rebellion. Read Isaiah chapter 66.