The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT
HOUSE OF COMMONS. A:8 13.
LAW OF MARRIAGE
Mr. STUART WORTLEY presented several pea"'
ns tio from various places in the north-west on
so m thee
subject of the law of marriage, praying that
alteration might be made. Among the petitioners were;
123 clergymen, 126 solicitors, 6 mayors of towns, and
24 common councillors and taking the whole of the
petitioners together there were not less than 1,062
membes of he board of ln the present!'
don ofr theeet petitions hewonwould not disguise the truth
that he was personally desirous of effecting some change
in. the law of marriage. But in doing so, he was Rer,:
tectly aware that he was aroaching a subject in *he;
there was much delicacy and difficulty involved, and o
which many arguments had been stated quite irreleettae
to the subject. Now, with respect to the object of in;
motion which he had to submit, he would say ths
the House had been pressed in 1841,
Wotl
Tar
one, whose absence from that House allow
regret, if it were not known that was rd
engaged in a better place. His Friend yo
Ellesmere—(Cheers)—had again, in 1842, renewed.ohri:
motion, and in a House when only 290 Members•
present lost his cause only by
Since that tine five years had passed. and the quest; _
had every day been gaining ground, and was now e
stronger than ever, for it was necessary to :et at rest the
slightest of a reat number of families. He did not
.11,f
a majority of tweatoya
in the degree to disguise the matter before
House. Ile did not desire to disturb the general lava;
marriage, bat he would nut be dealing fairly with wo
House if he did not state that his object was the sa
as that which had been advocated by Lord Eileen:l.r%
for he desired to obtain the repeal of the law we!'s'a.
prohibited a marriage with the sister of actdeeased It
But under whatever circumstances that A might havefor
been passed, it had totally failed to effect the object the
which it was framed. Its effect, instead of renderingio
law more certain, had the effect of rendering
ohje th°c s of
still more uncertain than it was before. The void
the Act intended by Lord Lyndhurst was to
cmaasikocn, his
those marriages. And, upon a subsequent oc ,
at {gill
Lordship said that it was not his intention by t", into,
to set the question at rest. This Bill was brougalts3s
the House of Lords by Lord Lyndhurst in Jun: wbere
the Bill, as originally introduced, enacted, thsb" held
marriages had taken place, they siwul; e which
good and valid, but with respect to War's:" t they
might afterwards take place, it was enacted Oa, lace
should be held as actually void. No discussion took
upon the stages of the Bill in the house C°a's
Subsequently, however, the second clause was re.s.-t0( en.
Now that was the history of the Act ; altu e de"
Gentlemen would take the trouble to look to t ,
bate which arose on the occasion of its
wculd find that a feeling then prevailed thee discussed
that the subject ought to be more iniuutely
and considered in another session. A "wbtr(i)etts"of
spectable persons made an inquiry in some numb
for the
the country, which occupied them three months,
__
,the
purpose of obtaining some statistical inforinstionL
had
k'
passing,litoiVo
subject, and they found that 1,648 case's ,Paiorlt'
curred, exclusive of the marriages amongst taebibitea
fog classes, which vi ere within the For/1 piece
degree, as specified by the Act of 1845, 196 t AOO
before the passing of the Act, and 1,364 since ; al'use,e;
of the whole number 1,501 were with deccasetaybi,
sieters. One of the highest civil authorities 6. to
formed him that he had induced many
marry on account of the objections which 01'0/ion of
owing to their relationship ; and, with the eve l's /bete
one case, he had invariably succeeded. Aleclisstrate*
marriages, there were seventy contracted by mob c-io,eses•
barristers, and physicians, thirty by the ntiddleo so.;
including, merchants, manufacturers tradesene en, persons,. snot :rise
and it *had been calculated that ;here roast, the
least 6,000 of these marriages prohibited cione
Act now existing, which affected, at least, s. the
persons. The principal object of the framersZfinalt
Bill of 1835 was to render the law certain anor
but the introduction of the clause rendering intlaY,.,seoe
riages invalid, had counteracted the benevoletittra
tions of the authors of the Bill, and bad can had
haa
most unhappiness in families, the heads of of
these
married in opposition to the Act. The number it, this
marriages amongst the lower classes was sroall,..ccuca to,
might be accounted for by the fact, that or
baeu
gether in a state of concubinage. Every
made to expose the evils which existed from the
of
and to bring about a healthier state of the laW.
eat judges
the facts ascertained were laid before that enliven Jthe
Mr. Justice Erle, whose elevation to the bench had
signica
utmost satisfaction, and after devoting initeti
eel in the
to the subject—for he was one of the counse, itjton,
Sussex peerage case—be etated it as his Arta Oat
effort ire
jtot,
that notwithstanding the Act of 1835, marrieges __and
kind then objected to were valid,—(llear, hear, view'
prevailed, •, "Te doubt
many other eminent men had supported the
but still great uncertaintyand gre-- • k
hung over many marriages, and a man narnedChabdrrgeel
who had married his wite's sister, and who was c
with bigamy, as he had married during the life of his
was acquitted on the ground that it was an
invalid mg.
wriaagsenoiwn
paecacodrid4nactetwheithcothuretAcicftQeufeeinB3,l3sl3. geandebt.heTchaesne
riages contracted abroad. Some said a marriage
riages diversity of opinion prevailed with respect to Tar;
solemnised abroad between uarties who had genei
abroad for that purpose, and wlio immediately afterwar7
came back to this country was a valid marriage, while
others entertained an exactly opposite opinion, and one
marriages were illegal. The question sas (In°
which affected both rich and poor; but as the rich Ins,:
sessed property and held titles that were expose";
much danger, and the transfer of property was
rounded with difficulties, litigation, and interminab.!
expense would be the result. One object of the Act ws'
to relieve children from the suspense they were ill (14,...1.-
ing the lives of their parents, who had contracted
riages not strictly legal, but the Act had not sec, 13;
pushed the good for which it was designed; and
ants
distance of a century hence, the descend
of persons who had contracted a marriage of too
nature, might be called upon to show that their anima of
were domiciled in Holland or Germany at the thee of
their marriage, so that they had not violated the laritei
their own country. Thus every title in this c0t10..00
was insecure. In Scotland, for instance, ma is
within the prohibited degrees, if they had taken pinan
England, were valid.--(Hear, hear.) Now, this oust.
intolerable state of things, and ought no longer to c
A petition in 1841 was presented to the House ofl:11-0/0
signed by 75 solicitors, complaining of the Of: had
state of the law ; and another to the same eloc.rt w
as
been
presented from a large bcdy of the clergY._ House
under these circumstances that he asked tirthought
to give him the means of making an inquirPrilr► bear.)
hevv had made out a case for inquiry.--oa,
ah the exception of some cantons in Swttzer state of
Protestant eountry save this allowed such ils, noel
thingsm to exist. For instance, George IIL, win's" in tit°
_ aaririages were prohibited in this county,.wes
b t of giving. dispensations for the solemnising 01,00ii-
la.r marriages in Hanover, a portion of the British meet
oupotnas.th Ti hs
oeocoanaliyo
occasion
i a objectionthat which ch
Committeeball venturepoa to !illy
thisniods
jo c would raise a great feeling of doubt in the
inasmuch
families. With respect to this objection it was
it
didr
hitetscimioeuulcrdh, as doubts already existed ; but, even iLet. sioo.
i was nperhto,evaenr.o)trhatought to be, a valid eui—whr°
Hae
ahadua g
m.numerousomaa
coucli:6dsehs°:ab'talaiirde.
under the same roof with her deceased sister Ao
even The if
freath of scandal was too great for her to uf the
her care was necessary for the welfare rest
ehildren. He hadestablished that there was very/ that
doubt upon the subject, and he bad also pr therefore
there were many cases of flagrant evil, he coy
consideredmis that he had made out his case for a Litt'
stole. The Noble Lord then read a petition frnflietieg
coin, signed by all the clergymen in that diocese, sk,oet
that great and enormous evils arose from the Prefir
st(a)te of the law. His first intention was to seek- 01
from
Committee but, from the lateness of the session, ask
rom a variety of other motives, he was desirous /body,
for a Commission. The high character of such a bout
the seal of confidence under which they could ,°,,0 eo
evidence, all imparted to such a plan the requistt-
much to be desired.—(Cheers G. .) 114-eao,
After a few words from Sir GREY and Sirß. "oe
Sir BERNAL OSBORNE said that he would not 010
th
into the question. He only arose to tender his asks
to the Hon. Member for having brought forward this
Bill. He formerly did not record his vote upon this
question, as ho bad not sufficiently made up his Olt
upon the subject, but every day convinced him of IP-
necessity of doing something.
1)r. NICIIOLS said the same difficulty attended mar'
riaire both within the prohibited degrees of coasan"
guinity and affinity, and the law of England always coil;
eidering the law of marriage to be in the r g" 11
canonical disability, had never interfered. He could Del
agAreien WATSONtothemoti ton.
hought the state of
as to demand inquiry, and he would the lsw wag
eh'
The motion was then agreed
the motion.
to.thereore suppo—
IsMirPRWO. IMPROVEMENT OF FISHERIES (IRELANP2„O.
A. RRON rose to move fora Select Coinall't•
to inquire into the means of improving the fisheries
and thereby. affording profitable
Ireland,employe
me=lt.Ho said there were 400,000 individtl7
connected with the trade, but the Want His
creaapaiotaal
for
rendered these fisheries unproductive.
the
House had.
Ireland were
making the motion at present, was that
voted large sums of money for the Se if
which were fostered, while the fishers hat
the Irishwfiereh left unaided. The consequence wad, ro
selling theirs fiesrhiesatwearevcw.ryorhthiglehss,pwrihoeile
thing would more efficiently benefit tbinethipereeSiocaponlett ofle°
country
whose fisheries were to be the subject of the 7;
quiry which he proposed ; the best proof of which W
the success that had attended the advances to lOW.,
and to Scotland on this head. The Hon. Member en'.
eluded by moving for a commission of inquiry.
Mr. FREWEN seconded the motion. SO
Mr. LABOUCHERE said he would not exprtoo.
opinion different from that expressed by the bnile,
Baronet, who had moved for the Committee, as ""
importance •f the .fisheries of Ireland. It was A CP.,- a
Lion which had occupied succeeding Goverruseento7l
the House for many years, and there had boa thc-er;
missions of inquiry, so numerous, that ee—eal
were documents on the tablet of the IG,c-
sufficient for information upon the °WI— of
Ho believed that the growth of the forttuleta,
Scotland were to be attributed to the RriZio
enterprise, and not to any encouragement derivea Tto
Government. At the same time, he was not preP_,„,,,are eat
deny that these were the modes in which Get allrer
he
might well and beneficially employ its influence, 7
tbta
would instance two methods by which he thong voting
dog
benefit might be had. One of these modes was, by Tie.
grants of money to the building of fishery piers in niulocii
rent parts of the coast of Ireland, where they Via. -6001
wan tedeThe late Government had devoted a sum ofsoglire
to this object, and the present Government had, mind
manner, voted 40,0001. for the same purpose. The:Dugi
mode was by erecting curing stations, Ifwm v WOW
.40"