riage was solemnized; nor shall any evidence in either of the said cases be received to prove the contrary, in any suit touching the validity of such marriage."(y)

Sec. 28. "All marriages shall be solemnized in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, besides the minister who shall celebrate the same; and immediately after the celebration an entry shall be made in the register."

Sec. 30. "This Act, or anything therein contained, shall not extend to the marriages of any of the royal family."

Sec. 31. "Nothing in this Act contained shall extend to any marriages amongst the people called Quakers, or amongst the persons professing the Jewish religion, where both the parties to any such marriage shall be of the people called Quakers, or persons professing the Jewish religion respectively.”(z)

The 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 85, s. 1, enacts, that after the 1st of March, 1837,(a) "notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, all the rules prescribed by the rubric concerning the solemnizing of marriages shall continue to be duly observed by every person in holy orders of the Church of England who shall solemnize any marriage in England: provided always, that where by any law or canon in force before the passing of this Act it is provided that any marriage may be solemnized after publication of banns, such marriage may be solemnized in like manner on production of the registrar's certificate as hereinafter provided ; (b) provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall affect the right of the *Archbishop [*284 of Canterbury and his successors, and his and their proper officers, to grant special licenses to marry at any convenient time and place, or the right of any surrogate or other person now having authority to grant licenses for marriages."

Sec. 2. "The Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, and also persons professing the Jewish religion, may continue to contract and solemnize marriage according to the usages of the said society and of the said persons respectively; and every such marriage is hereby declared and confirmed good in law, provided that the parties to such marriage be both of the said society, or both persons professing the Jewish religion respectively, provided also, that notice to the registrar shall have been given, and the registrar's certificate shall have issued in manner hereinafter provided."(c)

(y) Upon an enactment nearly similar, it was determined, in a prosecution for bigamy, where the first marriage was proved to have been by banns, that it was no objection that the parties did not reside in the parish where the banns were published and the marriage was celebrated. The provision of the statute was considered as an express answer to the objection; and it appears not to have been adverted to when the point was reserved for the opinion of the judges: Rex v. Hind, R. & R. 253.

(z) See the next page. By sec. 33, the Act only extends to England.

(a) By 7 Will. 4, c. 1, the operation of this Act was suspended until after the last day of June, 1837.

(b) The 1 Vict. c. 22, s. 36, after reciting this proviso, enacts, "that the giving the notice to the superintendent registrar, and the issue of the superintendent registrar's certificate, as in the said Act and by this Act provided, shall be used and stand instead of the publication of banns to all intents and purposes where no such publication shall have taken place; and ever parson, vicar, minister, or curate in England shall solemnize marriage after such notice and certificate as aforesaid in like manner as after due publication of banns: provided always that the church wherein any marriage according to the rites of the Church of England shall so be solemnized shall be within the district of the superintendent registrar by whom such certificate as aforesaid shall have been issued." (c) The 23 & 24 Vict. c. 18, recites this clause, and sec. 12 of the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 81 (I.), and enacts that after the 30th of June, 1860, "marriages may be contracted and solemnized according to the usages of the said Society of Friends, called Quakers, in England and Ireland respectively, not only in the case provided for by the said recited provisions, but also in cases where one only or where neither of the parties to the marriage shall be a member of the said society; provided that the party or parties who shall not be a member or members of the said society shall profess with or be of the persuasion of the said society; provided also that no person who is not a member of the said society shall be married according to the usages thereof, unless he or she shall be authorized thereto, under or in pursuance of some general rule or rules of the said society, in England and Ireland respectively; and a copy of such general rule or rules purporting to be signed by the recording clerk for the time being of the said society in London and in Dublin respectively, shall be admitted as evidence of such general rule or rules in all proceedings touching the validity of any such marriage." By sec. 2, all enactments then in force relating to marriages according to the usages of the said society are extended to every

Sec. 3. "The superintendent registrar of births and deaths of every union, parish, or place shall be, in right of his office, superintendent registrar of marriages within such union, parish or place, and such union, parish, or place shall be deemed the district, of such superintendent registrar of marriages."

Sec. 4. "In every case of marriage intended to be solemnized in England after the said first day of March, (d) according to the rites of the Church of England (unless by license or by special license, or after publication of banns), and in every case of marriage intended to be solemnized in England after the said first day of March, according to the usages of the Quakers or Jews, or according to any form authorized by this Act, one of the parties shall give notice under his or her hand, in the form of schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, or to the like effect, to the superintendent registrar of the district within which the parties shall have dwelt for not less than seven days then next preceding, or if the parties dwell in the districts of different superintendent registrars shall give the like notice to the superintendent registrar of each district, and shall state therein the name and surname and the profession or condition of each of the parties intending marriage, the dwelling place of each of them, and the time not being less than seven days during which each has dwelt therein, and the church or other building in which the marriage is to be solemnized; *provided that if either party shall have dwelt in the place *285] stated in the notice during more than one calendar month, it may be stated therein that he or she hath dwelt there one month and upwards."(e)

Sec. 5. "The superintendent registrar shall file all such notices, and keep them with the records of his office, and shall also forthwith enter a true copy of all such notices fairly into a book, to be for that purpose furnished to him by the registrar general, to be called the marriage notice book,' the cost of providing which shall be defrayed in like manner as the cost of providing register books of births and deaths;(ƒ) and the marriage notice book shall be open at all reasonable times without fee to all persons desirous of inspecting the same; and for every such entry the superintendent registrar shall be entitled to have a fee of one shilling."

Sec. 6. "If such superintendent registrar shall be clerk to the guardians of any poor-law union, or of any parish or place comprising the district for which such superintendent registrar shall act, he shall read such notices as hereinafter directed; and if he shall not be such clerk, then he shall transmit to such clerk on the day previous to each weekly meeting of such guardians all such notices of intended marriage as he shall have received on or since the day previous to the weekly meeting immediately preceding the same; and such clerk shall read such notices immediately after the minutes of the proceedings of such guardians at their last meeting shall have been read; and such notices shall be so read three several times in three successive weeks at the weekly meetings of such guardians, unless in any case license for marriage shall be sooner granted, and notice of such license being granted shall have been given to such clerk: provided also, that if it shall happen that the board of guardians of any such union, parish, or place shall not so meet, it shall be sufficient for the purposes of this Act that such notices shall be read at any meeting of such guardians which shall be held within twenty-one days from the day of such notice being entered."(g)

The 1 Vict. c. 22, s. 24, reciting this section, and that "it may happen in certain superintendent registrars' districts that there may be no such guardians," enacts, "that in every such case, but only until the election of such board of guardians and of a clerk to their board, every notice of marriage given according to the provisions of the said Act for marriages, or a true and exact copy thereof, under the hand of the superintendent registrar, shall be suspended in some conspicuous place marriage contracted under this Act. All marriages solemnized in England before July 1, 1837, and in Ireland before April 1, 1845, according to the usages of the Quakers or Jews, are rendered valid by the 10 & 11 Vict. c. 58, provided the parties were both Quakers or both persons professing the Jewish religion.

(d) See note to sec. 1, ante, 283..

(e) By 1 Vict. c. 22, s. 10, the registrar-general may unite two or more districts, and by sec. 11 may divide districts. See the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 119, s. 3, post, p. 294. (f) Repealed as to the costs of registers by 21 & 22 Vict. c. 25, s. 6.

(g) See the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 119, s. 1, post, p. 293.

in the office of the superintendent registrar during seven successive days, if the marriage is to be solemnized by license, or twenty-one successive days if the marriage is to be solemnized without license, before any marriage shall be solemnized in pursuance of such notice; and the particulars of every such notice shall be sent by the superintendent registrar to every registrar of marriages within his district, and shall be open to the inspection of every one who shall apply at reasonable times to such registrar to inspect the same."(h)

*By the 6 & 7 Will. 4, s. 7, "after the expiration of seven days if the [*286 marriage is to be solemnized by license, or of twenty-one days if the marriage is to be solemnized without license, after the entry of such notice, the superintendent registrar, upon being requested so to do by or on behalf of the party by whom the notice was given, shall issue under his hand a certificate in the form of schedule (B.) to this Act annexed, provided that no lawful impediment be shown to the satisfaction of the superintendent registrar why such certificate should not issue, and provided that the issue of such certificate shall not have been sooner forbidden in manner hereinafter mentioned by any person or persons authorized in that behalf as hereinafter is provided; and every such certificate shall state the particulars set forth in the notice, the day on which the notice was entered, and that the full period of seven days or of twenty-one days (as the case may be) has elapsed since the entry of such notice, and that the issue of such certificate has not been forbidden by any person or persons authorized in that behalf; and for every such certificate the superintendent registrar shall be entitled to have a fee of one shilling."(i)

Sec. 9. " Any person authorized in that behalf may forbid the issue of the superintendent registrar's certificate by writing at any time before the issue of such certificate the word "forbidden" opposite to the entry of the notice of such intended marriage in the marriage notice book, and by subscribing thereto his or her name and place of abode, and his or her character, in respect of either of the parties, by reason of which he or she is so authorized; and in case the issue of any such certificate shall have been so forbidden the notice and all proceedings thereupon shall be utterly void."

Sec. 10. "After the said first day of March,(k) the like consent shall be required to any marriage in England solemnized by license as would have been required by law to marriages solemnized by license immediately before the passing of this Act; and every person whose consent to a marriage by license is required by law is hereby authorized to forbid the issue of the superintendent registrar's certificate, whether the marriage is intended to be by license or without license."

Sec. 11. "After the said first day of March(k) every superintendent registrar shall have authority to grant licenses for marriage in any building registered as hereinafter provided within any district under his superintendence, or in his office, in the form of schedule (C.) to this Act annexed, and for every such license shall be entitled to have of the party requiring the same the sum of three pounds above the value of the stamps necessary on granting such license;(7) and every superintendent registrar shall four times in every year, on such days as shall be appointed by the *registrar general, make a return to the registrar general of every [*287 license granted by him since his last return, and of the particulars stated concerning the parties: provided always, that no superintendent registrar shall grant any such license until he shall have given security by his bond in the sum of one hundred pounds to the registrar general for the due and faithful execution of

(h) See sec. 5 of the same Act, post, p. 294.

(i) It was not the intention of this Act that the registrar should have power to grant his certificate for marriages out of his own district, and, consequently, the superintendent registrar has no power to grant his certificate under this section, where it is proposed that the marriage should take place out of his district. Ex parte Brady, 8 Dow. P. C. 332, Patteson, J.

By sec. 8 the registrar-general is to furnish the superintendent registrars with forms of certificates, which are to be distinguished in certain ways where the marriage is by license, and where it is without license.

(k) See note to sec. 1, ante, p. 283.

(7) See the 19 & 20 Vict. c. 119, s. 10, post, p. 295.

his office provided also, that nothing herein contained shall authorize any superintendent registrar to grant any license for marriage in any church or chapel in which marriages may be solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England, or in any church or chapel belonging to the Church of England or licensed for the celebration of Divine worship according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, or any license for marriage in any registered building which shall not be within his district."

Sec. 12. "Before any license for marriage shall be granted by any such superintendent registrar one of the parties intending marriage shall appear personally before such superintendent registrar, and in case the notice of such intended marriage shall not have been given to such superintendent registrar, shall deliver to him the certificate of the superintendent registrar or superintendent registrars to whom such notice shall have been given, and such party shall make oath, or shall make his or her solemn affirmation or declaration instead of taking an oath, that he or she believeth that there is not any impediment of kindred or alliance or other lawful hindrance to the said marriage, and that one of the said parties hath for the space of fifteen days immediately before the day of the grant of such license had his or her usual place of abode within the district within which such marriage is to be solemnized, and where either of the parties, not being a widower or widow, shall be under the age of twenty-one years, that the consent of the person or persons whose consent to such marriage is required by law has been obtained thereto, or that there is no person having authority to give such consent, as the case may be; and all such licenses and declarations shall be respectively liable to the same stamp duties as licenses for marriage granted by the ordinary of any diocese, and affidavits made in order to procure the same."

Sec. 13. "Any person, on payment of five shillings, may enter a caveat with the superintendent registrar against the grant of a certificate or a license for the marriage of any person named therein; and if any caveat be entered with the superintendent registrar, such caveat being duly signed by or on behalf of the person who enters the same, together with his or her place of residence, and the ground of objection on which his or her caveat is founded, no certificate or license shall issue or be granted until the superintendent registrar shall have examined into the matter of the caveat, and is satisfied that it ought not to obstruct the grant of the certificate or license for the said marriage, or until the caveat be withdrawn by the party who entered the same; provided that in cases of doubt it shall be lawful for the superintendent registrar to refer the matter of any such caveat to the registrar general, who shall decide upon the same: provided likewise, that in case of the superintendent registrar refusing the grant of the certificate or license, the person applying for the same *shall have a right to appeal to

*288] the registrar general, who shall thereupon either confirm the refusal or

direct the grant of the certificate or license.'

Sec. 14. "After the said first day of March(m) no marriage after such notice as aforesaid, unless by virtue of a license to be granted by the superintendent registrar, shall be solemnized or registered in England until after the expiration of twenty-one days after the day of the entry of such notice as aforesaid; and no marriage shall be solemnized by the license of any superintendent registrar or registered until after the expiration of seven days after the day of the entry of such notice as aforesaid."

Sec. 15. "Whenever a marriage shall not be had within three calendar months after the notice shall have been so entered by the superintendent registrar, the notice and certificate, and any license which may have been granted thereupon, and all other proceedings thereupon, shall be utterly void; and no person shall proceed to solemnize the marriage, nor shall any registrar register the same, until new notice shall have been given, and entry made, and certificate thereof given, at the time and in the manner aforesaid."(n)

(m) See note to sec. 1, ante, p. 283.

(n) By sec. 16, the superintendent registrar's certificate or license is to be delivered to the person by or before whom the marriage is solemnized. By sec. 17, the superintendent registrar may appoint registrars of marriages.

Sec. 18. "Any proprietor or trustee of a separate building, certified according to law as a place of religious worship, may apply to the superintendent registrar of the district, in order that such building may be registered for solemnizing marriages therein, and in such case shall deliver to the superintendent registrar a certificate, signed in duplicate by twenty householders at the least, that such building has been used by them during one year at the least as their usual place of public religious worship, and that they are desirous that such place should be registered as aforesaid, each of which certificates shall be countersigned by the proprietor or trustee by whom the same shall be delivered; and the superintendent registrar shall send both certificates to the registrar general, who shall register such building accordingly in a book to be kept for that purpose at the general register office: and the registrar general shall indorse on both certificates the date of the registry, and shall keep one certificate with the other records of the general register office, and shall return the other certificate to the superintendent registrar, who shall keep the same with the other records in his office; and the superintendent registrar shall enter the date of the registry of such building in a book to be furnished to him for that purpose by the registrar general, and shall give a certificate of such registry under his hand, on parchment or vellum, to the proprietor or trustee by whom the certificates are countersigned, and shall give public notice of the registry thereof by advertisement in some newspaper circulating within the county, and in the London Gazette.""(0)

Sec. 20. "After the expiration of the said period of twenty-one days, or of seven days if the marriage is by license, marriages may be solemnized in [*289 the registered building stated as aforesaid in the notice of such marriage, between and by the parties described in the notice and certificate, according to such form and ceremony as they may see fit to adopt : provided nevertheless, that every such marriage shall be solemnized with open doors, between the hours of eight and twelve in the forenoon, in the presence of some registrar of the district in which such registered building is situate, and of two or more credible witnesses: provided also, that in some part of the ceremony, and in the presence of such registrar and witnesses, each of the parties shall declare,

"I do solemnly declare, that I know not of any lawful impediment why, I, A. B., may not be joined in matrimony to C. D."

And each of the parties shall say to the other,

"I call upon these persons here present to witness that I, A. B., do take thee, C. D., to be my lawful wedded wife [or husband]."

Provided also, that there be no lawful impediment to the marriage of such parties." Sec. 21. "Any person who shall object to marry under the provisions of this Act in any such registered building may, after due notice and certificate issued as aforesaid, contract and solemnize marriage at the office and in the presence of the superintendent registrar and some registrar of the district, and in the presence of two witnesses, with open doors, and between the hours aforesaid, making the declaration and using the form of words hereinbefore provided in the case of marriage in any such registered building."(p)

Sec. 25. After any marriage shall have been solemnized it shall not be necessary in support of such marriage to give any proof of the actual dwelling of either of the parties previous to the marriage within the district wherein such marriage was solemnized for the time required by this Act, or of the consent of any person whose consent thereunto is required by law: nor shall any evidence be given to prove the contrary in any suit touching the validity of such marriage."

Sec. 26. "With the consent under the hand and seal of the patron and incumbent respectively of the church of the parish or district in which may be situated

(0) By sec. 19, on the removal of the same congregation the new place of worship may be immediately registered, instead of the one disused, and after such substitution it shall not be lawful to solemnize any marriage in such disused building.

(p) Sec. 22 regulates the marriage fees of the registrar. By sec. 23,. the registrar is to register all marriages solemnized before him in books to be sent by the registrar-general, and copies of the marriage register book are to be given quarterly to the superintendent registrar.