NULLITY OF MARRIAGE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 148, 8 June 1935, Page 5

NULLITY OF MARRIAGE

Civil Laws Need Enlargement N.Z. PRIMATE’S COMMENT (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, June 8. “An important part of the reoprt to my mind is the passage relating to the nullity of marriage,’’ said Archbishop Averill, Primate of New Zealand, when asked to express his views upon the cabled summary of the report of the committee of the Convocations of Canterbury and York on marriage and divorce, “I am very strongly of opinion that the State should enlarge the grounds on which marriage can be declared null,” the Archbishop continued “What I have in mind particularly are cases in which one party has knowingly deceived the other before marriage by concealing vitally important facts which, if disclosed, would have caused the marriage to be abandoned. Such a change in law undoubtedly w'ould prevent a great deal of misery which now leads to the Divorce Court. “It seems to me that the Church would be quite justified in concurring in the annulment of such marriages by civil courts and in regarding them as no marriages at all in the sight of God. If this came about it would no doubt be necessary for the Church to set up some tribunal to inquire and report before the re-marriage of the innocent party in a church was authorised. Possibly the principle might be extended by granting dispensations for the re-marriage of innocent divorced persons who had obtained divorces cn grounds which would justify a decree of nullity. However, Ido not think that this should bo done unless some general legislation on such lines had been adopted by the whole Church.”