The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-16 00:00:00

TO SOLEMNISE MAURIAGE.

To permit all ministers of religion to solemnise
marriage would be to abandon all security for its
due authentication, and for the nticusru.,-,,.w a any
safeguards against sudden, clandestine, or unlawful
marriages. This (as to Episcopally ordained
ministers) was the actual state of the law in Eng-
land before the Fissiug of Lord Ilardwicke's Act,

when a regular trade iu clandestine marriages was
carried on by degraded clergymen, generally man
of infamous character, the inmates of prisons, and
indifferent to all social and ecclesiast'cal restraints.
In Ireland, at a still later period, it was thought
necessary to restrain similar practices by sanguinary
penal enactments.
We consider it, therefore, requisite that. the
authority to celebrate marriages should be limited
to such ministers of religion as are in the active
exercise of official duties in their several Churches
or denominations, and occupy positions which make
them amenable to public responsibility, and to the
censure and discipline of their own religious com-
munities. But, within these limits, we think the
power ought to be as general as possible. The posi-
tions occupied by the diocesan Bishops and paro-
chialav e frequented
("d h
ue n districtte clergyte
place ofin
question, the s e vera a
l s
their Episcopal
Churches (Protestant and Roman Catholic, Esta-
blished and unestablished), by the parochial clergy
of the Established Church of Scotland, and by the
officiating ministers of all the different bodies and
congregations of Nonconformists, are, upon the
whole, adequate guarantees for the general observ-
ance of those precautions and the discharge of those
duties upon which the State, in the matter of mar-
riage, is entitled to insist. Such ministers, there-
fore, when duly certified sad registered (or other
ministers specially deputed by them, or officiating
with their consent), may safely be entrusted with
the solemnisation of marriage. We need hardly
add that the contract, if entered into by the par-
ties, acting in good faith, in the presence of any
person officiating de facto as a minister of the
authorised class, ought to be held valid and bind-
ing in law, notwithstanding any defect in the
orders, title, or authority of the person so
officiating.
All churches and chapels (other than parish
churches) of the United Church of England and
Ireland, and of the Established Church of Scot-
land, and all churches, chapels, and meeting-
houses of the Roman Catholic Church, and of all
Protestant denominations, for the ministers of
which it may be desired to obtain power to solemnise
marriages, ought, in our opinion, to be certified by
proper authority to the Registrar-General, and to
be registered by him, in accordance (substantially)
with the provisions, on that subject, of the present
laws of England and Ireland. The rules as to cer-
tifying
for this purpose churches and places of
worship ought everywhere to be the same, and
they should, we think, be the following :—Epis-
copal churches and chapels of congregations (whe
ther of the United Church of England and Ireland
or not), organised under Bishops, should be regis-
tered upon the certificates of their respective
Bishops. Presbyterian churches or chapels of con-
gregations (whether of the Established Church of
Scotland or not), organised under Presbyteries,
should be registered upon the certificates of their
respective Presbyteries ; and all other Non-
conformist places of worship (including those
of Episcopalian congregations not under Bishops,
and of Presbyterian congregations not under
Presbyteries), should be registered upon the
certificate (in each case) of the officiating
minister for the time being, and not less than ten
householders, members of the congregation who
h
or-
dinary place of worship, for the period of one year
' next before the date of the certificate. ~The pre.
, sent provisions of the laws of England and Ire-
' land, as to a change of the place of worship of the
same congregation, after registration, should also
be retained and made general.
These rules, so far as they might vary from the
existing laws of England and Ireland on the same
subject, would have the effect of obviating certain
minor inconveniences, which have been pointed out
I to us by the English Roman Catholic Bishops and
I by some Presbyterian witnesses from Ireland, as
arising in their respective churches under particular
local circumstances. The minimum number of cer-
tifying householders, iu cam where the certificate