MARRIAGE LAW MISTAKES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 412, 18 July 1908, Page 4

MARRIAGE LAW MISTAKES.

By a Church of England Clergyman. In the course of mauy years’ experience in tying the “ nuptial knot” a clergyman is frequently struck by the number of mistakes people make with reference to the preliminaries necessary for getting married.

There seems to be an impression in the minds of many that the parents’ written or verbal consent is necessary if one of the parties is under the age of twenty-one. It is not so. It is true that the parent has the right to forbid the wedding if his son (or daughter) has not attained the majority, but if nothing is said to the contrary the clergyman assumes that the father has no objection to the marriage taking place. It is very foolish for couples to give false particulars with regard to names, age and addresses. The present writer was once performing a marriage ceremony when he was obliged to stop, information having reached him that the bride had given an incorrect address. Some people still retain the idea that a marriage must take place before twelve o’clock in the day, but under the present law weddings may be solemnised until three o’clock in the afternoon.

A mistake not infrequently made is that clergymen are compelled to marry people, whether they wish to or no. This is incorrect; a clergyman is quite within his rights in refusing to perform a maniage ceremony, even if the contracting parlies are both residing in his parish. One often reads in the papers of people being married by “ special license.” In most cases this is quite an erroneous impression. A ” special license” is a very expensive and troublesome thing to get, and it entitles the holders to get married at any hour of the day, but an ordinary marriage license is a very different thing, and is often procured as a substitute for having banns published in a church. But a marriage by ordinary license must take place as in the case of a marriage after banns, before three o’clock in the afternoon.

Speaking of “special” licenses, the bridegroom at a grand function in a large, fashionable Westend church, arrived too late for the wedding ceremony to be performed. Lord B (the bridegroom) was at his wits’ end to know what to do, as he had only an ordinary marriage license. The lady had a private income of 000 a year, and expense was no object, so at the suggestion of the clergyman he hired a hansom and procured a special license, which enabled him to be married after the customary hour fixed as the legal time-limit. This instance shows the use and advantages of special licenses. They are, however, very rarely used, and in most cases it is quite incorrect to speak of people as being married by “special license.” Marriages in church take place almost invariably “by license” or “ alter banns,” as is shown by the marriage registers, “license” meaning the ordinary marriage license. But nowadays the great majority] of people are married after the publication of banns. Marriages may be solemnised any time within three months of the publication of banns, and need not take place immediately after they have been published “for the first time of asking.”