Clergy, Marriage Act 1551
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1551 c. 12 |
| Year | 1551 |
(5 & 6 Edw. 6) C A P. XII.
'A L B E I T that at the Session of this Parliament holden by Prorogation atWestminster the fourth Day of November in the second Year of the Reign of the King's Majesty that now is, it was ordained and enacted by the Authority of the same Parliament, That all and every Law and Laws positive, Canons, Constitutions and Ordinances before that made by the Authority of Man only, which then did prohibit and forbid Marriage to any Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Person or Persons, of what Estate, Condition or Degreethey then were, or by what Name or Names soever they then were called, which by God's Law might lawfully marry, and all and every Article, Branch and Sentence concerning only the Prohibition for the Marriage of the Persons aforesaid, should be utterly void and of none Effect: (2) And that all manner of Forfeitures, Pains, Penalties, Crimes or Actions, which were in the said Laws contained, or of the same did follow, concerning the Prohibition for the Marriage of the Persons aforesaid, should be clearly and utterly void, frustrate and of none Effect, to all Intents, Constructions and Purposes, as well concerning Marriage afore that Time made by any of the Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Persons aforesaid, as also such which thereafter should be duly and lawfully had, celebrated and made betwixt the Persons which by the Laws of God might lawfully marry: (3) Yet since the making of the said Act, divers evil disposed Persons perversly taking Occasion of certain Words and Sentences in the same Act comprised, have and do untruly and very slanderously report of Priests Matrimony, saying that the same Statute is but a Permission of Priests Matrimony, as Usury and other unlawful Things be now permitted, for the eschewing of greater Inconvenience and Evils, so that thereby the lawful Matrimony of Priests, in the Opinion of many, and the Children procreate and born in such lawful Matrimony rather be of a greater Number of the King's Subjects accounted as Bastards, than lawfully born, to the great Slander, Peril and Disherison of such Children: (4) Which untrue slanderous Reproach of Holy Matrimony doth not only redound to the high Dishonour of Almighty God, but also to the King's Majesty's Dishonour, and his High Court of Parliament, and the learned Clergy of this Realm, who have...
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