The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-16 00:00:00

MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED

WIFE'S SISTER.

Subjoined is the text of the Bill introduced on
Monday evening in the House of Lords by the Earl of
Dalhousie, and read a second time:
Whereas it is expedient to amend the law as to
marriage with a deceased wife's sister: Be it therefore
enacted by the Queen's Moit Excellent Majesty, by
and with the advice and oonsent of the Lords Spiritual
and Tenaoral, and Commons, in this present Par-
liament assembled, and by the authority • of the same,
as follows :

1. No marriage between a man and his deceased
wife's sister heretofore celebrated or contracted at
any place whatsoever within the realm or without, or
which shall hereafter be celebrated or contracted in
England or Ireland in the office of any registrar undar
the provisions of the Acts relating to marriages in
England and Ireland, or to be contracted in Scotland
or elsewhere, shall be deemed to have been or shall
be void or voidable by reason only of the affinity
of the parties thereto, or by reason of any statute, or
of any canonical or other objection or impediment,
founded only on such affinity to the validity of any such
marriage, or to the celebration thereof, or to the
validity of any license or certificate under which the
same may have been celebrated; and the registers of
all such marriages in England or Ireland. or authen-
ticated copies thereof, and such evidence as would be
proof of any other marriage in Scotland or elsewhere,
shall be received in all courts of law and equity, and
for all purpons, as evidence of such marriage respeo-
ti fely.
2. Provided always, that nothing herein contained
shall render valid any marriage with the sister of a
deceased wife where either of the parties has after-
wards during the life of the other, and befdre the pass-
ing of this act, lawfully intermarried with any other
person.

3. Provided also that this Act, so far as it relates to
any marriage with the sister of a deceased wife, cele-
brated or contracted before the passing of this Act,
shall not invalidate or affect any right to any dignity
or title of honour, or any estate, right, title, or in-
terest, legal, or equitable, in or to any lands, here-
ditaments, chattels, or effects, vested in any person
before the passing of this Act, nor any contingent
estate or interest, legal or equitable, in any lands,
hereditaments, chattels real, chattels, or effects,
created by or derived from any settlement, grant, con•
veyance to uses, release, appointment, or other instru-
ment bond fide executed before the passing of this Act,
or by or from any devise or will which shall hz.ve
become operative by the death of the devisor or testa-
tor before the passing of this Act.

4. This Act may he cited for all purposes as the
Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Act, 1883,

In the division on Monday night in the louse of
Lords on the bill to legalise marriage with a deceased
wife's sister' the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Con.
naught, the Duke of Albany, as on previous occasions,
voted for the measure, in favour cl which the Duke of
Edinburgh, in consequence of his absence in Russia,
had paired with the Earl of Rosalyn.
The two archbishops and twenty bishops voted
against the bill • while the only prelates who are
friendly to it—the Bishops of Ripon and Worcester—
were not in their places,

In the minority against the laeoond reading there
also voted the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Argyll,
the Earl of Shaftesbury, Lord Emly, Lord Strath•
nairn, the Duke of Bueoleugh, Earl De La Warr, the
Earl of Devon, the Earl of Milltown, Lord Ravens.
worth, Lord Coleridge, Earl Powis, Lord Larnington,
the Marquis of Salisbury, Earl Cairns, the Earl of
Carnarvon, and most of the occupants of the front
Opposition bench,
In the majority were Earls Granville Kimberley,
Derby, Sidney, and Morley, Lords Carlingford and
Sudeley (members of the Government), Visoount
Sherbrooke, the Earl of Rosebery, Lord Houghton,
Lord Aberdare Lord Bramwell, Lord Lilford, the
Earl of Camperdown, Lord Brabonrne, the Marquis
of Ailesbury, Lad Waveney, the Earl of Dunraven,
Lord Mostyn, Lord Elphinetone' Earl Brownlow,
Lord Wolverton, the Duke of St. Albans Lord Car-
rington, Earl Cowper, the Earl of &afield, the Earl
of Lytton, Lord Tweedmouth, Lord Saye and Sele,
Lord Reay, the Marquis of Bath, Viscount German-
ston, Lord Alcester, Lord Ardilaun, and Lord Gough.

The tellers for the Bill were the Earl of Dalhousie
and the Marquis of Waterford, and against Earl Beau-
champ and Lord Balfour of Burleigh.

Lord Stradbroke was accidentally shut out from
voting with the minority, and Lord Fitzgerald pur•
posely abstained.

Three new peers, Lords Haldon, Oastletown, and
Ohesham, took the oath and their Beat e on Monday, in
time to enable them to vote in the division on the
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill.

The Times says :—lt is understood that the opposi-
tion to the Bill will, contrary to the usual custom in
the House of Lords, be strenuously renewed when the
Bill reaches the next stage. The motion will be made
that the HouseTo into committee three months hence.
The Bill is put down for the committee stage pro formei
for next Monday, but it will probably be a week later
before it is proceeded with.

The Standard says that it is understood that if the
Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Bill should
reach the House of Commons the Government will
give facilities for passing the Bill.

•
The number of applications for admission to the
Strangers' Gallery in the House of Lords on Monday
night was far in excess of the accommodation. During
the course of the debate the approaches to the House
were crowded by strangers who had orders, but who had
failed at the ballot. Amongst those was a consider.
able sprinkling of clergymen.