12 to 15 year old girls can marry in Colorado.

[RustyBattleship]

There is a news report on AOL about the Colorado court saying it is legal for a girl to marry at age 15. Technically the law allows girls as young as 12 and boys as young as 14 to marry based upon English Common Law.

Though English Common Law was an excellent basis for our own Constitution, some of its "allowances" are too archaic for today's world. 100 to 150 years ago there was no such thing as a teenager as there were no child labor laws that kept them in school. Either you were grown up enough to manage a household or not.

"Boys" at 14 were already in full time employment and it was not necessary to go on to high school beyond the 8th grade. "Girls" at 12 were already fully trained at house keeping, cooking and child bearing. Those qualifications no longer exist in North America today. Well, there have been some exceptions I suppose as one of the wives of Jerry Lee Lewis ("Great Balls of Fire") was only 12 years old.

There may be some other countries where it is acceptable for people that young to marry. But in most of the National societies of today it would just hold the young couple back from further individual development.