Matrimonial Causes and Marriage Law (Ireland) Amendment Act 1870

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1870 c. 110
Year1870


Matrimonial Causes and Marriage Law (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1870.

(33 & 34 Vict.) 110.

An Act to provide for the administration of the Law relating to Matrimonial Causes and Matters, and to amend the Law relating to Marriages, in Ireland.

[10th August 1870]

W HEREAS by ‘The Irish Church Act, 1869,’ after reciting that it was expedient that the union created by Act of Parliament between the Churches of England and Ireland as then by law established should be dissolved, and that the church of Ireland, as so separated, should cease to be established by law, it was enacted that on and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one the said union created by Act of Parliament between the Churches of England and Ireland should be dissolved, and that the said Church of Ireland, in the said Act referred to as ‘the said Church,’ should cease to be established by law; and it was further enacted that on and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one all jurisdiction, whether contentious or otherwise, of all the ecclesiastical, peculiar, exempt, and other courts and persons in Ireland at the time of the passing of the said Act having any jurisdiction whatsoever exerciseable in any cause, suit, or matter, matrimonial, spiritual, or ecclesiastical, or in any way connected with or arising out of the ecclesiastical law of Ireland, should cease, and that on and after the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one the Act of the session of the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter fifty-four, should be repealed, and that on and after the last-mentioned day the ecclesiastical law of Ireland, except in so far as relates to matrimonial causes and matters, should cease to exist as law; and by the said Act it was provided that nothing in any Act, law, or custom should prevent the bishops, the clergy, and laity of the said Church so disestablished as aforesaid, and herein-after in this Act referred to as ‘the said Church,’ by such representatives, lay and clerical, and to be elected as they the said bishops, clergy, and laity should appoint, from meeting in general synod or convention, and in such synod or convention framing constitutions and regulations for the general management and good government of the said Church, and property and affairs thereof, and the future representation of the members thereof in diocesan synods, general convention, or otherwise, and also that if at any time it should be shown to the satisfaction of Her Majesty that the bishops, clergy, and laity of the said Church, or the persons who for the time being might succeed to the exercise and discharge of the episcopal functions of such bishops, and the clergy and laity in communion with such persons, had appointed any persons or body to represent the said Church, and to hold property for any of the uses or purposes thereof, it should be lawful for Her Majesty by charter to incorporate such body, with power, notwithstanding the statutes of mortmain, to hold lands to such extent as was in the said Act provided, but not further or otherwise, and also that the Commissioners appointed by said Act might vest in the said representative body such churches as therein provided:

And whereas it is expedient to make provision in regard to suits which may be pending on the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, and for the enforcing of decrees and orders made before the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one and for the due administration of the law in respect of matrimonial causes and matters, and to amend the law relating to marriages in Ireland;

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen'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 authority of the same, as follows:

S-1 Short title.

1 Short title.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as ‘TheMatrimonial Causes and Marriage Law (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1870.’

S-2 Commencement of Act.

2 Commencement of Act.

2. This Act shall commence and have effect on the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.

S-3 Limitation of Act.

3 Limitation of Act.

3. This Act shall apply to Ireland only.

S-4 Interpretation of terms.

4 Interpretation of terms.

4. In this Act—

The term ‘bishop of the said Church’ shall include any person who for the time being may succeed to the exercise and discharge of the episcopal function of any person who at the passing of the said Irish Church Act was a bishop thereof:

The term ‘clergy and laity of the said Church’ shall include clergy and laity in communion with bishops of the said Church:

The term ‘Protestant Episcopalian’ shall mean a member of any of the churches following; (that is to say,)

The said Church, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church of Scotland, and any other Protestant Episcopal Church.

I

Part I.

Matrimonial Causes and Matters.

Matrimonial Causes and Matters.

S-5 As to suits then pending.

5 As to suits then pending.

5. All suits and proceedings in causes and matters matrimonial which, upon the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, shall be pending in any ecclesiastical court in Ireland, shall be transferred to, dealt with, and decided by the Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters herein-after mentioned, as if the same had been originally instituted in the said Court, subject to the following qualification:

If on the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one any cause or matter which would be transferred to the said Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters under the enactment herein-before contained shall have been heard before any judge having, at the time of such, hearing, the same jurisdiction in relation to such cause or matter, and be then standing for judgment, such judge may, at any time within six weeks after the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, give into one of the registrars attending the Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters a written judgment thereon, signed by him; and a decree or order, as the case may require, shall be drawn up in pursuance of such judgment, and every such decree or order shall have the same force and effect as if it had been, drawn up in pursuance of a judgment of the Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters on the day on which the same was delivered to the registrar.

S-6 Decrees, &c. made in any matrimonial matter may be enforced by the Court.

6 Decrees, &c. made in any matrimonial matter may be enforced by the Court.

6. Any decree or order of any ecclesiastical court of competent jurisdiction made before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one in any cause or matter matrimonial may be enforced or otherwise dealt with by the Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters herein-after mentioned in the same way as if it had been originally made by the said Court under this Act.

S-7 Former matrimonial jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts to be exercised by the Court.

7 Former matrimonial jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts to be exercised by the Court.

7. From and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one all jurisdiction now vested in or exerciseable by any ecclesiastical court or person in Ireland in, respect of divorces a mens et thoro, suits of nullity of marriage, suits for restitution of conjugal rights or jactitation of marriage, and in all causes, suits, and matters matrimonial, except in respect of marriage licences, shall belong to and be vested in Her Majesty, and such jurisdiction shall be exercised in the name of Her Majesty in a court of record, to be called the Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters.

S-8 Judge of Court of Probate to be judge of Court.

8 Judge of Court of Probate to be judge of Court.

8. The judge of the Court of Probate shall be the judge of the said Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters, and shall have full authority to hear and determine all matters arising therein.

S-9 In case of illness, &c., provision to supply place of judge.

9 In case of illness, &c., provision to supply place of judge.

9. In case the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in pursuance of the provisions of ‘The Probates and Letters of Administration Act (Ireland), 1857,’ shall request a judge of one of the superior courts of law in Ireland to sit for the Judge of the Court of Probate, and exercise his powers, then such judge may also sit as judge of the Court of Matrimonial Causes and Matters, and exercise all the powers of the judge of the said Court.

S-10 Sittings of the Court.

10 Sittings of the Court.

10. The Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters shall hold its sittings in the court from time to time appointed for the hearing of causes in the Court of Probate in Ireland.

S-11 Seal of the Court.

11 Seal of the Court.

11. The Lord Chancellor shall direct a seal to be made for the said Court for Matrimonial Causes and Matters, and may direct the same to be broken, altered, and renewed at his discretion; and all decrees and orders, or copies of decrees or orders of the said Court, purporting to be sealed with the said seal, shall be received in evidence without further proof thereof.

S-12 Officers of the Court.

12 Officers of the Court.

12. The registrars and other officers of the principal registry of the Court of Probate shall be also the registrars and officers of the said...

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