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The New Marriage Act.
We now minutely analyse-
The recent Marriage Act;
Reject all fiction, all surmise,
And stick to stubborn fact.
If it be argued, that the
facilitating of the marriage ceremony will lead the rash and the
inconsiderate to make unwise connexions, the recent Act may be supposed to
conduce to that end. Against this, it may be stated, that the compulsory
enactments of Lord Hardwieke's bill, and of the bills of other statesmen,
did not always bring about wise marriages.
If people choose to marry,
they will marry; and no power on earth can stop them. It is the same with
people who are bent on committing suicide: if you take from them one means
of doing so, they will forthwith seek out another. People choose to go and
jump off the Monument, and dash their brains out on the pavement: it is
ordered that iron bars be put up, so as to prevent them—but they then go and
jump off London Bridge. Well, pull down London Bridge, cry the
philanthropists, and you will be doing a Christian act: no, they will laugh
at you, and jump off St. Paul's. Pull down St. Paul's, and they will leap
off Shakspere's, or some other cliff. Level all the. cliffs in the country,
and they will throw themselves into wells. Fill up the wells, they will hang
themselves with their garters. Abolish garters for ever, they will plunge
into the Serpentine. Drain the Serpentine, they will drown themselves in the
Thames. Cover over the Thames with brickwork—never mind spoiling the trade
of London—and they will directly rush into the ocean. Fill up the ocean with
the cliffs you levelled—you can't, it's too big: besides, if you could, you
would fail in deterring people from committing suicide, if they were
determined on it. Supposing you dried up all the rivers and oceans to
prevent their drowning themselves ; if you levelled all the trees,
buildings, and hills, and make the whole world one dead plain, so that they
should have nothing to jump from to dash their brains out; and if you
stripped them of all their habiliments whatsoever, by which they could not
hang themselves with their neck-handkerchiefs, garters, or stay-laces, still
they could beat their heads against the ground that they trod on, or
strangle themselves with their own fingers.
Thus it is with people who
are resolved on matrimony ; and thus it is, that although Lord Hardwicke
forbade every one in England, except Jews and Quakers, to marry anywhere but
in the church, before proper witnesses, he did not prevent their going to
Gretna Green. Being balked in one quarter, they resorted, like the suicides,
to another; and had any member of the House introduced a bill for abolishing
the facilities of Gretna, people would soon have found out some other manner
of accomplishing their purpose elsewhere.
This being the state of
affairs, it was considered necessary to revise the laws bearing thereon ; to
take into deliberation the extent of good or evil which they encouraged; to
further promote the good, but to obviate the evil; to introduce a more
generous toleration towards dissenters and foreigners professing strange
creeds—a desirable measure in a country boasting equal rights and freedom to
every one alike —and thus to afford convenience and ease of conscience to
each individual, whether permanently or temporarily dwelling in this land.
By the enactment of the
recent marriage act of 1837, the provisions of all the long list of former
ones — from Pope Innocent III. down to the statutes of the Georges—have been
either entirely swept away, or re-modified. By this act a person may be
married in a church by a clergyman, or else by entering into an agreement in
a registered building, or at the Superintendent Registrar's office ; or
again, by most especial licence, at any time and in any place whatsoever it
may seem meet and convenient.
Special licences are granted
by the Archbishop of Canterbury. By virtue of stat. 25 Henry VIII., c. 21.,
this high dignitary and his successors are empowered to dispense such
obligations to the needy, either immediately from his office, or else from
Doctors1 Commons, or from the Faculty office in Knight-rider-street, at
either of which places they may be procured. The privilege of marrying in
this way is usually restricted to persons of a certain station ; and
Archbishop Seeker, in 1757, ordered it that such privileges should be
granted only to peers and peeresses in their own right, dowager peeresses,
privy councillors, the judges of Westminster Hall, baronets, knights, and
M.P.'s; but this regulation does not bar the favour being given to others of
less rank, if it shall seem fitting. The same form in obtaining this licence
is observed as in that which exempts from publication of banns; only it is
particularly mentioned that the ceremony may be performed,."at any time, in
any church or chapel, or other meet or convenient place."
The Anglo-Saxons did not
celebrate weddings in their churches, but at the house of the bridegroom,
whereunto the bride had been conducted; and it was customary to consider
this as a civil contract only, and one not requiring any religious
intervention, until Innocent III. ordered it otherwise, in the excess of his
innocence.
By the recent marriage act of
G and 7 Will. IV. cap. 85., which has been further explained and confirmed
by her present most gracious Majesty in 1 Victoria, cap. 22, it is enacted,
that those who purpose entering the holy estate, must attend to and go
through a certain routine of proceeding. If they intend to be united by
licence, and according to the rubric of the established church, the parties
must send to the superintendent registrar of the district in which he or she
has . dwelt during seven days previously, and give him a notice of their
purpose ac-: cording to the form following:—
Notice of Marriage.
To the Registrar of the
District of Hendon, in the County of Middlesex. I hereby give you notice,
that a Marriage is intended to be had, within three calendar months from the
date hereof, between me and the other party herein named and "described ;
(that is to say,
Witness my hand, this sixth
day of May, 1842.
(Signed) James Smith.
The reader will observe that
the italics are to be filled up as the case may be. No charge is made for
giving in this notice, simply because it is not any certification of a deed
done, but only the advertisement of a deed proposed to be done at some
future understood time ; that is, within the space of three months and a
week after the sending in of this notice. It is requisite, however, to have
this duly registered in a book kept by the officer for that purpose, and his
fee for so doing is the sum of one shilling lawful money of this realm.
Then, after the expiration of seven days, one of the parties must appear
personally before the superintendent within whose district the marriage is
intended to be solemnized, and make oath or affirmation to the effect that
no impediment exists to the said marriage. For doing this, the fee of
half-a-crown is demanded. This done, the following certificate is procured,
on payment of the sum of one shilling more. To wit:
Registrar's Certificate.
I, John Cox, Registrar of the
District of Stepney, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby certify, that on
the sixth day of May, notice was duly'entered, in the Marriage Notice Book
of the said District, of the marriage intended between the parties herein
named and described, delivered under the hand of James Smith, one of the
parties: (that is to say,)
The above certificate is
printed in red ink — a fact which the law enforces for certificates with
licence, and the word "Licence," must be laid or manufactured in Roman
letters in the substance of the paper.
The names of James Smith and
Martha Green, together with the other words in italics filling the different
compartments, have just been added as noms de guerre, as they were in the
example from which this was taken ; but in the certificate which you are
yourself about to procure, these spaces will be left blank, and you will
fill them up with your own name, the name of your adorable, and the places
of your several abodes, &e. Be not terrified, gentle swain, from matrimony,
because you have all these perplexing forms to attend to, nor be discouraged
because you have to undergo so much trouble; for remember, that if your
lady-love is worth getting, she is worth all this trouble, and ten times
more.
You must now go to the
superintendent registrar yourself,—for no proxy will do—and present him with
the certificate as afore, supposing no notice of your loving intention has
already been given him, and he will let you have a marriage licence, after
the manner of that which we subjoin below. For this licence he will charge
£3., and to which may be added ten shillings for the stamp upon it, making
£3 10s., together with a few more expenses, which we will presently explain,
in all amounting to =£4 4s. 6d. And for this paltry sum you will be bound to
a lady whose worth in virtue, grace, and beauty, will amount to riches
unspeakable — whose fascinations will be above the calculations of all
arithmetic—whose wit will perpetually engage you with the most enticing
sallies—whose ravishing charms will keep your pulse always at 150—and whose
incessant acts of untiring affection will never let your feelings subside
below the state of absolute rapture.—Don't you long to be married?
Licence of Marriage.
A.B., superintendent
registrar of to C. D. [bridegroom's name] of and E. F. [bride's name] of
sendeth-greeking.
Whereas ye are minded, as it
is said, to enter into a contract of marriage under the provisions of an act
made in the seventh-year of the reign of His Majesty King William the
Fourth, intitled [here the title of this act is inserted,] and are desirous
that the same may be speedily and publiely solemnized : and whereas you,
C.D. [or you E.F., whichever party appears before the registrar] have made
and subscribed a declaration, under your hand, that you believe there is no
impediment of kindred or alliance, or other lawful hinderanceto the said
marriage, and that you, C. D. [or E.F.] have had your usual place of abode
for the spaee of fifteen days last past within the district of-, and that
you C. D [or E. F.] not being a widower [or widow], are under the age of
twenty-one years, and that the eonsent of G.H., whose consent to your
marriage is required by law, has been obtained thereto, [or, that there is
no person having authority to give such consent,] I do hereby grant unto you
full licence, according to the authority in that behalf given to me by the
said act, to proceed to solemnize such marriage, and to the registrar of the
district, [here is inserted the name of the district in which it is to be
solemnized,] to register such marriage according to law ; provided that the
said marriage be publicly solemnized in the presence of the said registrar
and of two witnesses within three calendar-months from the [here is inserted
the date of the entry in the notice book of the superintendent registrar,]
in the [here is described the building in which it is to take place,]
between the hours of eight and twelve in the forenoon. Given under my hand,
this -day of-One thousand eight hundred and forty.
(Signed) A. B.
Superintendent Registrar.
Such is the licence.
And now, oh! most amorous
swain, having thus paved the way through preliminaries, it only remains for
you to take your bride to church, where the form is gone through as laid
down in the prayer-book, which you have read from beginning to end long ere
this, and doubtless so also has she. We will venture to say that her book
readily and spontaneously falls open at " The Solemnization,11 &c., for all
young ladies1 prayer-books do; and why should she be different from others
of her sweet sex ? except that in your eyes she is more devoted, more warm,
more passionate, and more loving; and all which attributes, forsooth, will
indeed render her the more likely to have done so.
The fee for marrying you will
be ten shillings; so that your expenses stand as under:—
If these be all the
absolutely legal expenses of the affair, it is, nevertheless, not impossible
but certain customary and incidental ones might, peradventure, be added
thereunto : but what then ? we have hinted at the unspeakable wealth in
virtue and grace that your bride will bring you—the comparison is odious: we
have heard about throwing a herring to catch a whale; but now you are
throwing a few paltry pounds to catch a bride.
Such as intend being married
by banns, will proceed as heretofore, the new law having made no alteration
in the mode of doing it: their expenses in this case will be these:—
But those who intend not to
be married by special licence, nor by licence as above, nor by banns, but by
a clergyman, can procure a certificate as before for one shilling; on
presenting which to the clergyman, he will accommodate them ; that
certificate sufficiently assuring him that they are not acting illegally or
clandestinely. They must give notice to the superintendent registrar as
already mentioned, and pay a shilling for having it entered in the book, and
must then wait twenty-one days (instead of seven) before they can get the
certificate of him; and the fee at the time of the marriage, instead of ten
shillings, will be five.
The following, then, are the
expenses of being wedded by certificate without banns:—
To those persons, not being
of the Church of England, or to those who choose to make the ceremony only a
civil contract, and not a religious sacrament, the statute provides
differently. They give the notice as before; wait twenty-one days; procure
the, certificate; and then they proceed to some registered building, or the
superintendent's office, together with two creditable persons who shall act
as witnesses; and there, with open doors, between eight
and twelve in the forenoon,
they make the following declaration:—
"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."
The woman then repeats the
same words, only ' altering the order of the names. Each of the parties also
says thus reciprocally to the other :—
"I call upon these persons
here present to witness that I, A. B., do take thee, C. D.," [or that I, C.
D., do take thee, A. B.] «< to be my lawful wedded wife," [or husband.]
The entry is then made in the
register book, signed by the parties, the two witnesses, and the registrar,
the fee for so doing being five shillings.
This last mode of proceeding.
is vastly like a Gretna marriage.
The indulgent reader must
excuse us for having gossipped thus much about the New Marriage Act of
England ; but we have done so that he or she may understand the law and the
custom here, and by so understanding, be the better able to perceive what
differences obtain north of the Tweed, or in our case, north of the Sark, to
which locality we will now transfer our discussions with all reasonable
expedition. |
