It is, however, highly probable that the optional system of celebration is too firmly grounded in popular sentiment to be soon discarded. The practical reformer must perforce content himself with striving to make it as effective as possible. At present the law is very lax in providing proper safeguards for the religious solemnization. In the first place, the qualified minister should be authorized to act only within the local district of his permanent residence, the limits thereof to be defined by statute. By the early laws of New England, as we have already seen, the clergyman's functions were carefully confined to his own town, district, or county; and similar requirements appear elsewhere in some of the older statutes. This wise policy has been gradually abandoned, so that now in no instance is there such a restriction. Only in a very few cases, as in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, is authority conferred only upon ministers dwelling within the state. Apparently in the great majority of states and territories, although the statutes are often far from clear, all qualified ministers, residing anywhere in the United States, may act. Indeed, Louisiana is still more generous, granting full privilege to celebrate wedlock to any clergyman or priest "whether a citizen of the United States or not." Another useful lesson may be learned from the early laws. Proofs of ordination by the filing of credentials were often demanded. Some of the southern states went farther, exacting from the minister a bond for the faithful performance of his trust, in addition to credentials of ordination and good standing. Both these conditions are still enforced by the statutes of Kentucky,[661] Virginia, and West Virginia. Some other states have contented themselves with less severe requirements. Rhode Island has thus a careful system of local registration; in Maine and New Hampshire the clerical celebrant must secure a "commission" from the governor; in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arkansas he must file his credentials with the proper county officer and receive a certificate; Ohio requires a license from the county judge of probate; a license from the proper authority is also demanded in Hawaii;[662] but in the majority of cases no such precautions are specified in the statutes. Here is need of reform. Under present social conditions, and considering the vast multiplication and subdivision of religious sects, the Virginia system is not too rigorous to justify its adoption throughout the land. Furthermore, the future lawmaker may perhaps get a suggestion from English legislation, which has had to deal with the same problem. The ministers of every religious sect are authorized to celebrate marriages according to its own rites; but, aside from Jews, Quakers, and the Church of England, otherwise provided for in the statute, they may do so only in a "registered building" and in the presence of the civil registrar of the district and two witnesses.