The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-20 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1849.

occasion, to consider what they were going to do. The
case before them was one in which it particularly be-
hoved their Lordships to consider what they were going
to do, and what was likely to he the effect of the
measure before them. He knew ho was speaking the
sentioisrds of the great body of his countrymen, and
therefore he considered he had a right to press his
opinions upon the House. By the law of
Scotland marriage was a civil contract, the very
essence of which contract depended upon mutual con-
sent—that was the doctrine of the canon law as well as
of the civil law of Scotland. The Noble and Learned
Lord had said there were irregular marriages under the
law. Bat a writte❑ promise followed by cohabitation,
constituted and was recognised as a valid marriage. The
promise, however, must be a written one ; why, there-
fore, should a man be allowed to abandon such a con-
tract at his own pleasure. Under the present state of
the law seduction in Scotland was extremely rare ; in
England the cases were innumerable as compared with
those which occurred in Scotland. The law was a great
protection to the woman. Undoubtedly under the law
of Scotland, a an might be intrapped into a marriage
by an artful woman. Such a case might occur ; but fur
one man that was entrapped, one hundred women were
entrapped and betrayed under the law of England ; and
certainly it was woman who most needed protection.
For these reasons he saw no cause why that which was
now admitted as proof of a contract should not continue.
The same of a declaration of marriage before witnesses.
Remembering always that marriage was considered as a
civil contract, although in fact nearly all parties made it
a religious ceremony; but as a civil contract he saw no
reason why the solemn declaration before witnesses
should not be admitted to be as good proof of consent as
a written promise. No length of cohabitation would
constitute a marriage in Scotland if nothing appeared to
prove that the parties had intended to contract a mar-
riage. Cohabitation would be considered prima facie
evidence of the fact, but even 20 years' cohabitation
would not constitute a marriage without some evidence
of the consent of the parties. He would agree with
pleasure to improve the law by confining its provisions
strictly to persons having a proper Scotch domicile; for
though the people of Scotland bad a great love for the
law themselves, they had no particular wish to extend
it elsewhere. Marriage was a most valuable right, and a
great privilege of the poor, and their Lordships ought
not to impose any further restriction upon it without
good grounds, which he contended had not yet been
shown. His object would be effected by the omission of
those words which restricted the marriage ceremony to
be performed "in two modes and no more." He was
satisfied with what had conduced so much to the happi-
ness, the morality, and the prosperity of the country.
Lord BROUGHAM acknowledged ,the question to
be one of much importance, but, unfortunately, the mea-
sure had been married to another Bill, and it had re-
ceived all the odium which that other measure perhaps
deserved. It had been said by his Noble Friend that
the Registration Bill had been brought is to complete
the Marriage Bill: now just the reverse was the fact,
the Marriage Bill had been introduced to complete the
Registration Bill. That Bill contained a clause, the
schoolmaster clause, when it was last before the Legis-
lature, which was as improper a clause as any he
had ever read, and it had given rise to much ill-
feeling towards the Bill, great part of which was
also improperly extended to the Marriage Bill. Almost
every lawyer had complained of the operation of the law.
It had been complained of by Lords Thurloe, Hard-
wicke, and Eldon. And no wonder it was complained
of, when advantage was taken of it to evade the law of
this country. He should support the Bill, because it
would throw impediments in the way of improper, mis-
chievous, and ill-considered marriages. Those only
amongst their Lordships before whom divorce cases were
brought could be aware of the difficulties consequent
upon the state of the law of marriage in Scotland. In
many instances it was impossible to tell whether the par-
ties were duly married, whether they were legitimate,
or, if a second contract had been entered into, whether
they were guilty of bigamy or not. Scarcely two lawyers
could be got to give the same opinion with regard to it.
He agreed with the measure because he saw no other
means of putting an end to the difficulties which at pre-
sent existed. The Noble Earl near him (the Earl of
Aberdeen) suggested that the law respecting divorces
ought to be dealt with simultaneously with the law of
marriage, but he (Lord Brougham) thought that that
question ought to form the subject of a different measure.
The Earl of ABERDEEN said it appeared from re-
turns which he had moved for on the subject of English
and Scotch marriages and legitimacy, that during the
last eighteen years, since the scotch Consistorial Court
was abolished, and the busieess of it transferred to the
Court of Session, there had been only six appeals from
that court to their Lordship's House ; therefore, the
Noble and Learned Lord had very little right to com-
plain that the time of the House had been much occu-
pied in settling disputes respecting Scotch marriages.
The whole number of cases that had come before the
Court of Session during that period was 104.
Lord CAMPBELL—And in those 104 cases 35 of the
parties concerned were found to have been legally mar-
ried, 34 were discovered not to have been legally mar-
ried ; and the question with respect to the rest could not
be aettled.,—(A laugh.)
The Duke of ARGYLL said he did not believe that
this Bill had been introduced for the sake of completing
the registration of marriages. The principal objection
of the Noble Earl opposite appeared to be, that the Bill
limited in an undue and dangerous degree the facilities
for contracting marriages. He (the Duke of Argyll),
however, did not believe that it would have any such
effect. Under the existing law marriages were legal
which took place before clergymen of all denominations,
and it was not proposed to alter that system. The Bill
would have the effect of foreclosing for the future all
irregular marriages, and continuing the system of mar-
rying before clergymen of all denominations, and also
before registrars. But, as the Noble Earl had truly
said, such was the moral and religious feeling of the
people of Scotland, that very few marriages were con-
tracted except before clergymen. The measure could,
therefore, make very little change in the law, and the
Noble Earl's objections to it were, he thought, devoid of
force. It appeared to him that the Bill provided every faci-
lity for contracting marriages that it was necessary to
provide; and ho trusted that no misapprehension would
go forth to Scotland with respect to its real object and
tendency. It would make no difference whatever in the
practice of contracting marriages in that country.
The Earl of EGLINTON objected to the measure on
the ground of the great expense it would entail upon
the
.people of Scotland in carrying it out. If the Bill
had the effect of driving the people from the registrars
to the clergymen be should cordially support it, but the
matter was left to the option of the parties. It was
true that the fees for marriages before the registrars
were higher than before clergymen, and that was cer-
tainly an inducement to go before the latter. He pre-
ferred the clergymen to the registrars, but he preferred
the registrars to the blacksmiths.
Lord CAMPBELL replied,
The two Bills were then read a second time.
Their Lordships then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 19.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
NEW bIEMBERS.

Sir RALPH LOP= took the oaths and his seat for
Devonshire, in the room of Lord Courtenay; as also did
Mr. FRANCIS BARING, for Thetford.
SECOND READINGS.

The following Railway Bills were read a second time:
Cockermouth and Workington (Branch to Bridgefoot,
Amendment of Act, and Power to lease to Whitehaven
Junction Railway Company).
East Indian Railway Company (for making one or more
Railways in the East Indies) Incorporation.
East Lothian Central (Abandonment of the Railway and
Dissolution of the Company).
Edinburgh and Northern (Formation of Slip Quay and
other Works at Granton ' • Extension of Station at Edin-
burgh, Regulation of Perth Station, and Amendment of Aczs).
Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company.
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire (Consolidation and
Amendment of Acts).

Shrewsbury and Birmingham Acts Amendment, Branches,
and Deviations.

Shrewsbury and Chester (for Branches to the river Dee ;
Agreement for Joint Station at Shrewsbury; Power to sub-
scribe towards the Shrewsbury and Hereford).
Stockton and Darlington (Alteration of Line in Eggles-
cliffe and Stockton-on-Tees).
Stockton and Darlington (Lease of Line to the York, New-
castle, and Berwick Railway Company, and Amalgamation of
the two Undertakings).
Stockton and Darlington (Consolidation of Acts, Increase
of Capital, and purchase of the Middlesborough Dock).
York and North Midland (Deviation and Abandonment of
Part of the authorised Lines of Railway between Market
Weighton and Beverley, and Copmanthorpe and Tadcaster).
The following Bills were also read a second time
Argyll Canal (Abandonment of Undertaking, &c. )
Ashton-under-Lyne Police, Markets, Improvement Acts
Extension and Amendment, and Transference of Gas and
Waterworks and other Property to the Corporation.
Birmingham Borough (Exemption from County Rates).
Darlington Gas and Water Company.
Holme Reservoirs (Increase of Rates and Amendment of
Act).
Kidderminster Union Small Tenements Rating.
Lincolnshire South Rolland Drainage Improvement.
Macclesfield Borough Waterworks, Markets, &c.
Marshland, Smeeth, and Fen (Equalization of Drainage
Rates and Repair of Roads).
North Shields Quays and Improvements.
Ransonmoor or Doddington Fifth District Drainage Act
Amendment (to amend and extend the Powers, to annex
other Lands, to borrow Money, and to levy Rates or Taxes).
Renfrewshire Justice of Peace Courts.
St. Alban's Rates.
Staffordshire Potteries Waterworks (Extension and
Amendment of Act).
SOUTHAMPTON SMALL TENEMENTS
RATING BILL.

On the motion that this Bill be read a second time,
Mr. COCKBURN proposed that it be read a second
time this day six months, on the ground that if the Bill
were passed the tenements to which it referred would be
rated to the landlords instead of the tenants, who would
thereby be disfranchised.—(Hear.) It would lead to the
application of s new principle to a local community to
the exclusion of others ; it sought to introduce
a new mode of oppressive class legislation, which
was repugnant to the inhabitants of Southampton, who
had, in common council assembled, voted by a large ma-
jority that it would prove most inimical. He, therefore,
felt it his duty to offer the Bill all the opposition in his
power.

The amendment having been seconded,
Mr. MACKINNON defended the Bill. Out of 6,000
persons rated in Southampton, no rates could be obtained
from 1,800 persons.—(Hear.) The rates were exceed-
ingly heavy, and it was deemed advisable to make
the landlords of those houses which were
generally let to poor Irishmen and others liable for the
rates. He would, therefore, only have to charge the
tenant the amount of his rate in tho rent. The
vestries of the five parishes of Southampton bad
approved of the Bill by large majorities. A
similar Bill had been successfully in operation for
some time at Kidderminster and other places.
The Bill was unebjectienoble in principle, and wee merely