CANADIAN MARRIAGE LAW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1534, 2 September 1912, Page 5

CANADIAN MARRIAGE LAW.

THE NE TEMERE DECREE.

fly Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rec. September 1, 5.5 p.m.) Ottawa, August 31. It is understood that tho Government will not introduce marriage legislation during the, coining session, considering that the recent Privy Council decision is sufficient. . i Mr. Lancaster, who introduced a Bill dealing with the Ne Temere Decree, will not reintroduce it, being satisfied to leave the matter as 'it is. - .•

The Supreme Court of Canada decided in June Inst that the Canadian Parliament has no power to enact legislation of the character of the Lancaster • Mairiage Bill, a measure arising out of the Pope's Ne Temero decrce. The decision means that the authority to enact marriage laws rests entirely with the provinciallegislatures. The Court also decided that the law;: of Quebec does not render mixed marriages null and void, whether performed by a Roman Catholic priest or a Protestant clergyman. A cablegram published on July 31 stated that the Privy Council decided .tliat the Canadian law legalising all Canadian marriages solemnised by. an authorised clergyman under the laws of the provinces is ultra vires. The Quebec Government's Contention that such, a Federal law is inapplicable to that province, inasmuch as the marriage laws are. exclusively under provincial jurisdiction, ffas thus sustained. " .