system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Minors should not be able to marry under any circumstances.

Many countries have provisions in their marriage laws that allow minors to marry with parental consent (or subject to certain conditions). Allowing 16/17-year-olds (sometimes younger) to marry is completely illogical to me. There are two main cases of marriage involving minors:

Marriage between a minor and an adult: allowing marriages like this clearly leads to child brides and exploitative situations. This obviously should not be permitted. This is already illegal in some countries.

Marriage between two minors: while this is generally not exploitative, it is still a terrible choice. If someone is barely old enough to drive, why should they be able to enter into something as serious as marriage? Marriage should take a lot more thought and consideration than a 16-year-old is capable of. As well, what's the harm in waiting a few years? A couple that young has hardly had any time to find out how compatible they are with each other in the aspects of life they will share after marriage.

I'll award a delta to anyone who can prove any benefits associated with the existence of these laws that are significant enough to outweigh the harms they bring.

Edit: I've awarded two deltas for the terminal illness point. Further change in view will have to attack my point that the laws allowing minors to marry should not exist.
gpt
> Marriage between two minors: while this is generally not exploitative, it is still a terrible choice. If someone is barely old enough to drive, why should they be able to enter into something as serious as marriage? Marriage should take a lot more thought and consideration than a 16-year-old is capable of. As well, what's the harm in waiting a few years? 

I think there should be at least one exception: the current minor is close to becoming of age, but is expected to have only a few months left to live (e.g. due to a very serious illness), and their dying wish is to marry the love of their life.

In many countries, the law permits a court to make a compassionate/humanitarian exception in such cases, to fulfill such a person's deathbed wish to marry the person they love.