Marriage Act 1836
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1836 c. 85 |
| Year | 1836 |
(6 & 7 Will. 4) C A P. LXXXV.
[17th August 1836]
WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Law of Marriages inEngland: Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authorityof the same, That after the First Day ofMarch in the Year One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, notwithstanding any thing in this Act contained, all the Rules prescribed by the Rubrick concerning the solemnizing of Marriages shall continue to be duly observed by every Person in Holy Orders of the Church of England who shall solemnize any Marriage in England: Provided always, that where by any Law or Canon in force before the passing of this Act it is provided that any Marriage may be solemnized after Publication of Banns, such Marriage may be solemnized in like Manner on Production of the Registrar's Certificateas herein-after provided; provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall affect the Right of the Archbishop ofCanterbury and his Successors, and his and their proper Officers, to grant Special Licences to marry at any convenient Time and Place, or the Right of any Surrogate or other Person now having Authority to grant Licences for Marriages.
II Marriages of Quakers and Jews.
II. And be it enacted, That the Society of Friends commonly calledQuakers , and also Persons professing the Jewish Religion, may continue to contract and solemnize Marriage according to the Usages of the said Society and of the said Persons respectively; and every such Marriage is hereby declared and confirmed good in Law, provided that the Parties to such Marriage be both of the said Society, or both Persons professing the Jewish Religion respectively; provided also, that Notice to the Registrar shall have been given, and the Registrar's Certificate shall have issued in manner herein-after provided.
III Superintendent Registrar of Births to be so of Marriages.
III. And be it enacted, That the Superintendent Registrar of Births and Deaths of every Union, Parish, or Place shall be, in right of his Office, Superintendent Registrar of Marriages within such Union, Parish, or Place, and that such Union, Parish, or Place shall be deemed the District of such Superintendent Registrar of Marriages.
IV Notice of every intended Marriage to be given to the Superintendent Registrar of the District.
IV. And be it enacted, That in every Case of Marriage intended to be solemnized inEngland after the said First Day of March according to the Rites of the Church of England , (unless by Licence or by Special Licence, or after Publication of Banns,) and in every Case of Marriage intended to be solemnized inEngland after the said First Day of March according to the Usages of the Quakers or Jews, or according to any Form authorized by this Act, One of the Parties shall give Notice under his or her Hand, in the Form of Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, or to the like Effect, to the Superintendent Registrar of the District within which the Parties shall have dwelt for not less than Seven Days then next preceding, or if the Parties dwell in the Districts of different Superintendent Registrars shall give the like Notice to the Superintendent Registrar of each District, and shall state therein the Name and Surname and the Profession or Condition of each of the Parties intending Marriage, the Dwelling Place of each of them, and the Time not being less than Seven Days during which each has dwelt therein, and the Church or other Building in which the Marriage is to be solemnized; provided that if either Party shall have dwelt in the Place stated in the Notice during more than One Calendar Month, it may be stated therein that he or she hath dwelt there One Month and upwards.
V Superintendent Registrar to keep Notices in a Book.
V. And be it enacted, That the Superintendent Registrar shall file all such Notices, and keep them with the Records of his Office, and shall also forthwith enter a true Copy of all such Notices fairly into a Book, to be for that Purpose furnished to him by the Registrar General, to be called ‘The Marriage Notice Book,’ the Cost of providing which shall be defrayed in like Manner as the Cost of providing Register Books of Births and Deaths; and the Marriage Notice Book shall be open at all reasonable Times without Fee to all Persons desirous of inspecting the same; and for every such Entry the Superintendent Registrar shall be entitled to have a Fee of One Shilling.
VI Notices to be read at Meetings of Guardians.
VI. And be it enacted, That if such Superintendent Registrar shall be Clerk to the Guardians of any Poor Law Union, or of any Parish or Place comprising the District for which such Superintendent Registrar shall act, he shall read such Notices as herein-after directed; and if he shall not be such Clerk, then he shall transmit to such Clerk on the Day previous to each weekly Meeting of such Guardians all such Notices of intended Marriage as he shall have received on or since the Day previous to the weekly Meeting immediately preceding the same; and such Clerk shall read such Notices immediately after the Minutes of the Proceedings of such Guardians at their last Meeting shall have been read; and such Notices shall be so read Three several Times in Three successive Weeks at the weekly Meetings of such Guardians, unless in any Case Licence for Marriage shall be sooner granted, and Notice of such Licence being granted shall have been given to such Clerk: Provided also, that if it shall happen that the Board of Guardians of any such Union, Parish, or Place shall not so meet, it shall be sufficient for the Purposes of this Act that such Notices shall be read at any Meeting of such Guardians which shall be held within Twenty-one Days from the Day of such Notice being entered.
VII After Seven Days or Twenty-one Days, Certificate of Notice to be given upon Demand.
VII. And be it enacted, That after the Expiration of Seven Days if the Marriage is to be solemnized by Licence, or of Twenty-one Days if the Marriage is to be solemnized without Licence, after the Entry of such Notice, the Superintendent Registrar, upon being requested so to do by or on behalf of the Party by whom the Notice was given, shall issue under his Hand a Certificate in the Form of Schedule (B.) to this Act annexed, provided that no lawful Impediment be shown to the Satisfaction of the Superintendent Registrar why such Certificate should not issue, and provided that the Issue of such Certificate shall not have been sooner forbidden in manner herein-after mentioned by any Person or Persons authorized in that Behalf as herein-after is provided; and every such Certificate shall state the Particulars set forth in the Notice, the Day on which the Notice was entered, and that the full Period of Seven Days or of Twenty-one Days (as the Case may be) has elapsed since the Entry of such Notice, and that the Issue of such Certificate has not been forbidden by any Person or Persons authorized in that Behalf; and for every such Certificate the Superintendent Registrar shall be entitled to have a Fee of One Shilling.
VIII Forms of Certificates to be furnished.
VIII. And be it enacted, That the Registrar General shall furnish to every Superintendent Registrar a sufficient Number of Forms of Certificates, the Cost of which shall be accounted for by the Superintendent Registrar to the Registrar General; and in order to distinguish the Certificates to be issued for Marriages by Licence from the Certificates to be issued for Marriages without Licence, a Watermarkin the Form of the Word ‘Licence,’ in Roman Letters, shall be laid and manufactured in the Substance of the Paper on which the Certificates to be issued for Marriage by Licence shall be written or printed; and every Certificate to be issued for Marriage by Licence shall be printed with Red Ink, and every Certificate to be issued for Marriage without Licence shall be printed with Black Ink, and such other distinctive Marks between the Two Kinds of Certificate shall be used from Time to Time as shall seem fit to the Registrar General.
IX Issue of Superintendent Registrar's Certificate may be forbidden.
IX. And be it enacted, That any Person authorized in that Behalf may forbid the Issue of the Superintendent Registrar's Certificate by writing at any Time before the Issue of such Certificate the Word ‘Forbidden’ opposite to the Entry of the Notice of such intended Marriage in the Marriage Notice Book, and by subscribing thereto his or her Name and Place of Abode, and his or her Character, in respect of either of the Parties, by reason of which he or she is so authorized; and in case the Issue of any such Certificate shall have been so forbidden the Notice and all Proceedings thereupon shall be utterly void.
X Consent.
X. And be it enacted, That after the said First Day ofMarch the like Consent shall be required to any Marriage in England solemnized by Licence as would have been required by Law to Marriages solemnized by Licence immediately before the passing of this Act; and every Person whose Consent to a Marriage by Licence is required by Law is hereby authorized to forbid the Issue of the Superintendent Registrar's Certificate, whether the Marriage is intended to be by Licence or without Licence.
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