Bill Raftery had an interesting post recently in Gavel to Gavel,

“There’s an assumption that all state judges are permitted to perform marriages. While this is true in some states, it does not apply to every single jurist in every state.

North Carolina’s “General Court of Justice” (as the branch is formally known in the state constitution) has four types of judges: Supreme Court Justices, Court of Appeals Judges, Superior Court Judges, and District Court Judges. Current state law (§ 51-1) provides none of them may preside over a marriage and that that a marriage is valid only if done

1.            In the presence of an ordained minister of any religious denomination, a minister authorized by a church, or a magistrate; and with the consequent declaration by the minister or magistrate that the persons are husband and wife; or

2.            In accordance with any mode of solemnization recognized by any religious denomination, or federally or State recognized Indian Nation or Tribe.

For years there have been efforts to try to add, either temporarily or as a permanent amendment to the law, at least some judges to the list of those who can perform marriages. The latest effort was 2013′s SB 236. As approved by the House, the bill would add Superior Court judges to the list for 3 days in November.

Efforts, most notably in 2005, to make permanent the power of the state’s judges to perform marriage ceremonies have gone nowhere. And so the question is if North Carolina judges cannot do weddings why are they allowed to do the divorces?