Conspiracy of Silence: New Marriage Act: Civil Control Before Ceremony By rum Bisuop or Nomwicu The Marriage Act which came into operation on January 1 has raised some questions which are outside its special scope. One of these questions was illuminated some months ago by a communication of the Registrar-General, who has recalled the interesting fact that when the Marriage Bill of 1836 was before Parliament, a proposal that all marriage preliminaries shoud be under civil control met with "weighty support. This did not mean that çivil marriage itself should de made obligatory, only that the initial steps, necessary to make sure that those who wish to be married are truly competent to marry, should be taken under civil and not ecclesiastical authority.
Many now consider that it would be wise that all marriages should be carried out by civil agency: the law might adopt or adapt some continental method, or develop a practice already in use in England which combines the civil and the religious procedure. As ihe law now stands, those who have been married at a register office may have a subsequent religious ceremony in a church if the clergyman consents io read the marriage service over them. This service in church has no legal value, nor is any entry made in ihe marriage books of the church. Advocates of universal civil marriage would propose some extension of this scheme.
Responsibility of Church The question primarily concerns the Nationa] Church, which has obligations to the whole nation. With its parochial system it covers the whole country, and the parishioners as such have rights in the parish church. No doubt the duties of the Church were modified as soon as it was made possible for marriage to take place at a register office; and without hardship the Church of England can direct to this office at any rate those persons who would be so obviously unsuitable applicants for marriage in church that there could be no two opinions on their case, such as non-Christian foreigners. But the Church of England still has a general responsibility for all.
Under the present law, however, Other religious bodies besides the Church of England are able, if certain conditions are fulfilled, to effect valid marriages according 1o their own rites. They are not dissatisfied with the existing situation, and any scheme of universal civil marriage, even if it were acceptable to the Church of England, would necessarily deprive such bodies of a valued right.
The call for a new system of civil marriage for all would appear for the most part to have come from members, few or many, of the Church of England. The strength of the demand arose from the desire, strongly held in some quarters, that divorced people should not be married in church. But it is noticeable that the Legislature has been increasingly considerate to the clergy; and the new Marriage Act in its Clause 12 relieves them from marriages should be solemnized in church. As things stand, admissibility to the Holy Communion is not 3 matter of purely ecclesiastical administration, for the Book of Common Prayer is part of an Act of Parliament, and under its rubric concerning admission to the Holy Communion it is the "open and notorious evil liver" thats to be repelled. Who is he?
So far as the answer of the law of the land diverges from the answer of the Church, it will need a considering and considerate statesmanship to handle the issue. But it would be regrettable if Church and State came into conflict over these marriage questions, so long as both desire to act in a Christian manner. (See the speech delivered last year by the Bishop of Birmingham in the House of Lords when the Bill was under discussion.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.