What is the test for a marriage in jest?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from J.G. v. S.S.S., 2004 BCSC 1549 (CanLII):
In United States v. Rubenstein, Learned Hand J. had stated, in obiter dicta, at pp. 918—919: Mutual consent is necessary to every contract; and no matter what forms or ceremonies the parties may go through indicating the contrary, they do not contract if they do not in fact assent, which may always be proved … Marriage is no exception to this rule: a marriage in jest is not a marriage at all … It is quite true that a marriage without subsequent consummation will be valid; but if the spouses agree to a marriage only for the sake of representing it as such to the outside world and with the understanding that they will put an end to it as soon as it has served its purpose to deceive, they have never really agreed to be married at all. They must assent to enter into the relation as it is ordinarily understood, and it is not ordinarily understood as merely a pretence, or cover, to deceive others.
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