On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (5)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH MARRIAGE LAW.*

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY AN 1 > REVIEW , NEW SERIES , No . XIV .

    Untitled Article

    FEBRUARY , 1828 .

    A Sketch Of The History Of The English Marriage Law.*

    A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH MARRIAGE LAW . *

    Untitled Article

    In tracing the history of the Marriage Law in this country , it is difficult to assign the exact period at which the institution of marriage was first considered to be a matter of ecclesiastical cognizance . There seems , however , to be very little doubt that from the earliest times the church endeavoured to draw to itself the . solemnization of this contract , and accordingly , by the decrees of various councils , the performance of the ceremony was prohibited unless in facie ecclesia . ^ Whether the effect of these ordinances was to render marriages solemnized in contravention of them invalid , for temporal purposes , or merely to subject the parties to spiritual censures , is a question

    of great obscurity ; but it certainly appears that , from the earliest periods of our history , it was the practice to solemnize the marriage in facie ecc 7 esi # , or to receive the nuptial benediction from the lips of the priest . As marriages celebrated without any relig ious solemnity were clearly irregular , and subjected the parties to the animadversion of the spiritual courts , which in those days exercised a most formidable jurisdiction , it is not surprising that a due regard was paid to the observance of the prescribed forms ; and it by no

    means follows , as a necessary consequence from thence , that such an observance was essential to establish the temporal rights of the parties . Jn all probability , however , some confusion existed . as to these distinctions , and in the apprehension of the people an irregular marriage might be considered an invalid one . Thus , in the Consideration , Election and Petition of Parliament , addressed to Richard III ., it is said , that the marriage of Edward IV . anq Elizabeth Grey " was made privily and secretly , without edition of banns ^ in a private chamber , a profane place , and not openly in the face of the church , after the law of God ' s church , but contrary thereunto , and the laudable custom of the Church of England . " J It is worthy of observation , that this marriage is said to be contrary to the law of God ' s church and the

    [* We make no apology to our readers for laying before them a valuable communication on a legal subject , considering its connexion with the important endeavour to enlarge the civil privileges of Unitarians , which has so long engaged their att £ n - tion . Our correspondent does not seem aware that Dissenters' marriages in Ireland are , by a Declaratory Act , valid to all intents and purposes . Ed . ] f See Sclden ' * Ux . Hcb . 1 . ii . c . xxix . % noils of Pail Vol . VI . p . 24 U

    Untitled Article

    VOL , II . O

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/1/