Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698938935124.pdf (New Zealand)
Reprint as at 1 January 1989 Royal Marriages Act 1772 Imperial Act Date of assent Commencement 11 1 April 1772 1 April 1772 Contents 1 2 Title Preamble No descendant of his late Majesty King George the Second (other than the issue of princesses married, or who may marry, into foreign families) shall be capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of His Majesty, His heirs, etc, signified under the Great Seal, declared in Council, and entered in the Privy Council books.
Marriage of any such descendant, without such consent, shall be void If any such descendant, above 25 years old, shall persist to contract a marriage without such consent, such descendant, after 12 months’ notice to Privy Council, may contract such marriage, which shall be good, unless both Houses of Parliament shall disapprove Page 2 2 3 3 Note Changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in this reprint.
A general outline of these changes is set out in the notes at the end of this reprint, together with other explanatory material about this reprint.
1 Royal Marriages Act 1772 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 3 Persons wilfully solemnising or assisting at a marriage without such consent to incur the penalties of the Statute of Praemunire 1392 [Repealed] 4 An Act for the better regulating the future marriages of the Royal Family Preamble Most Gracious Sovereign, Whereas your Majesty, from your paternal affection to your own family, and from your royal concern for the future welfare of your people, and the honour and dignity of your crown, was graciously pleased to recommend to your Parliament to take into their serious consideration, whether it might not be wise and expedient to supply the defect of the laws now in being, and by some new provision more effectually to guard the descendants of his late Majesty King George the Second (other than the issue of princesses who have married, or may hereafter marry, into foreign families) from marrying without the approbation of your Majesty, your heirs or successors, first had and obtained, we have taken this weighty matter into our serious consideration; And being sensible that marriages in the royal family are of the highest importance to the State, and that therefore the kings of this realm have ever been entrusted with the care and approbation thereof, and being thoroughly convinced of the wisdom and expediency of what your Majesty has thought fit to recommend, upon this occasion; We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, do humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enacted, and 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 authority of the same, that— 2 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 Royal Marriages Act 1772 s 2 1 2 No descendant of his late Majesty King George the Second (other than the issue of princesses married, or who may marry, into foreign families) shall be capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of His Majesty, His heirs, etc, signified under the Great Seal, declared in Council, and entered in the Privy Council books.
Marriage of any such descendant, without such consent, shall be void No descendant of the body of his late Majesty King George the Second, male or female, (other than the issue of princesses who have married, or may hereafter marry, into foreign fam- ilies,) shall be capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of His Majesty, His heirs or successors, sig- nified under the Great Seal, and declared in Council (which consent, to preserve the memory thereof, is hereby directed to be set out in the licence and register of marriage, and to be entered in the books of the Privy Council); and that every mar- riage, or matrimonial contract, of any such descendant, with- out such consent first had and obtained, shall be null and void, to all intents and purposes whatsoever.
If any such descendant, above 25 years old, shall persist to contract a marriage without such consent, such descendant, after 12 months’ notice to Privy Council, may contract such marriage, which shall be good, unless both Houses of Parliament shall disapprove Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in case any such descendant of the body of his late Majesty King George the Second, being above the age of 25 years, shall persist in his or her resolution to contract a marriage disap- proved of, or dissented from, by the King, His heirs or suc- cessors; that then such descendant, upon giving notice to the King’s Privy Council, which notice is hereby directed to be entered in the books thereof, may, at any time from the expir- ation of 12 calendar months after such notice given to the Privy Council as aforesaid, contract such marriage; and his or her marriage with the person before proposed and rejected, may be duly solemnised, without the previous consent of His Majesty, His heirs or successors; and such marriage shall be good, as 3 s 3 Royal Marriages Act 1772 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 if this Act had never been made, unless both Houses of Par- liament shall, before the expiration of the said 12 months, ex- pressly declare their disapprobation of such intended marriage.
3 Persons wilfully solemnising or assisting at a marriage without such consent to incur the penalties of the Statute of Praemunire 1392 [Repealed] Section 3: repealed, on 1 January 1989, by section 4(1) of the Imperial Laws Application Act 1988 (1988 No 112).
4 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 Royal Marriages Act 1772 Notes Contents 1 2 3 4 General Status of reprints How reprints are prepared Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first) 5 Notes 1 2 3 General This is a reprint of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

The reprint incorporates all the amendments to the Act as at 1 January 1989, as specified in the list of amendments at the end of these notes.
Relevant provisions of any amending enactments that contain transitional, savings, or application provisions that cannot be compiled in the reprint are also included, after the principal enactment, in chronological order.

For more information, see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/reprints/.
Status of reprints Under section 16D of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, reprints are presumed to correctly state, as at the date of the reprint, the law enacted by the principal enactment and by the amendments to that enactment.

This presumption applies even though editorial changes authorised by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 have been made in the reprint.
This presumption may be rebutted by producing the official volumes of statutes or statutory regulations in which the principal enactment and its amendments are contained.

How reprints are prepared editorial A number in the preparation of enacting words are of conventions reprints.

not included are For example, in Acts, followed the and 5 Notes Royal Marriages Act 1772 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 that are repealed or revoked are omitted.
provisions For a detailed list of see http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/editorial-conventions/ or Part 8 of the Tables of New Zealand Acts and Ordinances and Statutory Regulations and Deemed Regulations in Force.
the editorial conventions, Changes made under section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 Section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 authorises the making of editorial changes in a reprint as set out in sections 17D and 17E of that Act so that, to the extent permitted, the format and style of the reprinted enactment is consistent with current legislative drafting practice.

Changes that would alter the effect of the legislation are not permitted.
A new format of legislation was introduced on 1 January 2000.

Changes to legislative drafting style have also been made since 1997, and are ongoing.

To the extent permitted by section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989, all legislation reprinted after 1 January 2000 is in the new format for legislation and reflects current drafting practice at the time of the reprint.
In outline, the editorial changes made in reprints under the authority of section 17C of the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989 are set out below, and they have been applied, where relevant, in the preparation of this reprint: • omission of unnecessary referential words (such as “of this section” and “of this Act”) typeface and type size (Times Roman, generally in 11.5 point) layout of provisions, including: • • indentation position of section headings (eg, the number and heading now appear above the section) format of definitions (eg, the defined term now appears in bold type, without quotation marks) format of dates (eg, a date formerly expressed as “the 1st day of January 1999” is now expressed as “1 January 1999”) • • • • 4 6 Reprinted as at 1 January 1989 Royal Marriages Act 1772 Notes • • • • • • • position of the date of assent (it now appears on the front page of each Act) punctuation (eg, colons are not used after definitions) Parts numbered with roman numerals are replaced with arabic numerals, and all cross-references are changed accordingly case and appearance of letters and words, including: • followed by small capital format of headings (eg, headings where each word formerly appeared with an initial capital letter letters are amended so that the heading appears in bold, with only the first word (and any proper nouns) appearing with an initial capital letter) small capital letters in section and subsection references are now capital letters • schedules are renumbered (eg, Schedule 1 replaces First Schedule), and all cross-references are changed accordingly running heads (the information that appears at the top of each page) format of amendments, and schedules of are rearranged into alphabetical order, chronological).
two-column schedules of consequential they rather than repeals (eg, List of amendments incorporated in this reprint (most recent first) Imperial Laws Application Act 1988 (1988 No 112): section 4(1) 5 12 Wellington, New Zealand: Published under the authority of the New Zealand Government—2013 7