The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-28 00:00:00

marriage was to take place. This certificate certi-
fied that the marriage was duly entered in the notice-
book, and that the requirements of the statute had
been complied with. Then, by the statute the Ist
Victoria, cap. 22, the issuing of this certificate was
to stand in the stead of the publication of banns to all
intents and purposes, and every clergyman
was bound to solemnize such marriage after
such notice and certificate as after the due pub-
lication of banns. He believed that there
could be no doubt in the world that the intention
of these Acts of Parliament taken alto
gether was that the notice to the superintendent-
registrar and his certificate were to stand in all re-
spects in the place of the publication of banns, and that
the clergyman was bound to marry parties who pre-
sented to him this certificate, just as he would have
done before after the proper publication of the banns.
That being so, he would now call attention to the
facts of the case, as to which there was no dispute at
all. On the 14th of May last a person of the name
of Henry Fisher gave notice to the superintendent-
registrar of the Leigh district that he wished to marry
Anne Hardman, and thereupon the superintendent-
registrar duly entered this notice in his book ; 21
days after that Fisher obtained from the superinten-
dent-registrar the certificate required by the Act of
Parliament, and having got that he called on the de-
fendant, who is the officiating minister of the church
of Sr. Triorteas, aelford, and gave notice to him
that he wished to be married next morning. He
(the Learned Counsel) was sorry to say that there
was a very good reason why Fisher should not
wish the marriage to be deferred, for the woman
to whom he wished to be married was far
advanced in pregnancy. It was desirable on all
accounts, whatever the faults of the parents might
have been, that the child, innocent as they must take
it to be, should not have visited upon it the conse-
quences of their fault. The defendant inquired of
Fisher if he had been baptised, to which he answered
that he had. The defendant then inquired if he had
been asked in church? Fisher said, " No, at the
board of guardians." The defendant then asked if he
had been confirmed ? Fisher said no, he had not, and
then the defendant said he would have nothing to do
with him, and that, as he had been asked at the board
of guardians, the board of guardians might marry him.
He (the Learned Counsel) was sorry that the defen-
dant should have treated such a subject with levity,
for so only could he understand it, that this was meant
as a joke; for nobody but the defendant, the Rev.
Mr. James, could marry him, because the notice to
the superintendent-registrar had been given for the
marriage to be solemnized at the church of St. Tho-
mas, and he could only be married in that church by
Mr. James. Fisher went away. On the evening
of the same day he again called on Mr. James, and
again expressed his wish to be married, and no doubt
Mr. James then well knew the reason why. On the
19th of June Mr. Hayes, the superintendent-regis •
trar, called on Mr. James and explained to him that
all the proceedings had been regular; still the defend-
ant refused to marry them; and on the 23. of August
Hayes, Fisher, the woman, Hardman, and a solicitor,
went to the defendant, and formally requested that a
day not later than the 14th of August, on which day
the time the certificate was valid expired, should be
fixed for the marriage to take place. The defendant
then said to Fisher, " I will marry you when you
have expressed a wish to be confirmed, and not other-
wise." This was a denial of the ceremony to him.
The parties were not married, and to this day
they were not married ; and, unfortunately, a child
had been born with a stigma attached to its
name entirely through what he must call the
scruples of Mr. James to marry them. Taking,
then, these to be the facts, he understood the refusal
of the defendant was thus grounded—that according
to the marriage service in the Book of Common
Prayer they would see that the rubric it the end of it
admonished or recommended parties to partake of the
holy communion at a " convenient" time, or as soon
as they conveniently could ; and he believed the
argument for the defendant would be, that inasmuch
as a person not confirmed was not in a state to par-
take of the holy communion, Mr. James considered
this declaration of the rubric as an injunction ad -
dressed to him, and that it was his duty not to marry
parties who were not in a state to become partakers
of the holy communion. He believed that was the
ground of the defence. He (the Learned Counsel)
could not imagine how such a defence could contra-
vene the express directions of an Act of Parliament.
But let them for one moment consider what the state
of the world would have been if such an excuse as
this had been held to be a reasonable excuse.
If it were a good excuse now it would have b ,en
a good excuse before this Act of Parliament
passed ; and only let them think what the state
of things would have been if the Church had here-
tofore held amongst its officiating sons men with such
scruples. How could a Dissenter have got married
at all ? They were not confirmed. They were,
therefore, in this respect in the same condition as
Henry Fisher, and if Mr. James was right in his ex-
cuse to-day, then half the population of the country—
much of its intelligence and of its respectability—
never could have been married at all, because before
this statute they could only be married in the
church by priests in holy orders ; and if a clergyman
had said, " You are a Dissenter, you have never been
confirmed, you cannot partake of the holy commu-
nion, and I will, therefore, exclude you from the right
of marriage," one-half the people of the country could
not have been married. He need only mention this
to show the absurdity—using that phrase without
disrespect to men who acted from conscientious
scruples—of such an excuse as this. Probably also
Mr. James might set up this defence—" If I do not
marry you you now can be married elsewhere ;
you may be married in your own chapel,
or in any building duly authorised ; or you
may go to the superintendent-registrar's office
to be married ;" and probably it might be
said that Fisher might have taken this
course. But he could not. His notice must express
where he wished to be married, and he therefore could
not be married at all elsewhere under that certificate,
or without commencing de novo, and giving a fresh
notice stating some other place in which he wished to
be married. He would make no further observations
on the case ; but he could not help thinking that it
would be much more wise, on an occasion like the
present, when the Church was agitated by many dis-
sensions both within and without, rather to throw
open the portals of the Church than to close them,
and to encourage parties to come to church for any
purpose than to shut them out. That, however, was
not the place to consider such a question, and he made
the remark with great deference to those who had
deeply considered the question, and he would now
proceed to call his witnesses. When he had given
his evidence it would become a question for his Lord-
ship, or fir some other tribunal, to set this question
at rest, and to instruct Mr. James as to his duty ac-
cording to the law of the land, which he and every
other subject was bound to obey.
Mr. Haves, the superintendent-registrar of the
district of Leigh, and clerk to the board of guardians
for that district, stated that on the 14th of May he re-
ceived a notice of marriage from Henry Fisher. The
notice (pursuant to the Act 6th and 7th of Wil-
liam IV.) was produced and read, describing the
church in which the marriage was wished to be so-
lemnized as St. Thomas's Church, Bedford. This
notice was entered in the marriage notice-book. That
was the book kept under the .sth section of the Gth
and 7th William IV., c. 85.

His LORDSHIP—The Act of Parliament requires
that the party must have resided more than seven
dip in the district in which he gave the notice.
It is not mentioned in the notice how long he had
resided.

The ATTORNRY^GENERAL—The notice WAS in the
form given in the schedule of the Act.
His LORDSHIP thought that was sufficient. The
notice entered in the marriage notice-book was
read at three weekly meetings of the board of
guardians.

hii LORD3HIP—Is that a public meeting? 3lty
everybody go there? Witness—No.

His LORDSHIP—How is a father to know when
his child is going to marry ? Witness—The marriage
notice-book is open to the public at all proper hours.
llis LORDSHIP—Yes, that is if a father knows his
child is going to marry—knows what is true—he
?nay go there ; but how is a father to know his child
15 going to marry ? Witness—l am not able to
answer that question.
his LORDSUIP—No, nor anybody else. The banns
were published that all people should know. This is
one of the evils of change. But go on.
Witness—Henry Fisher had after that applied to
him for a certificate, which he gave to him. (The
certificate was put in and read, and was according to
section 7 of the Act, and the form given in schedule
B.) On the 19th of June he called on Air. James,
the defendant, who is the officiating minister of St
Thomas's Church, Bedford, in the Leigh district,
and saw him. He told Mr. James his name and
office, and then told him he had been in correspond-
ence with the Registrar-General in consequence
of his refusing to marry Fisher and Hardman,
and that the Registrar-General, as advised, did not
consider the non-confirmation of the persons, or either
of them, was any objection or legal impediment. He
said he had seen Fisher before on the subject, and he
declined to say anything in reply. Witness then
said that Fisher had something to say. Mr. James,
however, refused to hear Fisher, who was about to
address him. Mr. James then retired and closed the
door of his residence. On the 2,1 of August he again
went to Mr. James's residence, accompanied by
Henry Fisher, Anne Hardman, and Mr. Whitehead,
a solicitor of Tinsley. They saw Mr. James, and
Whitehead introduced the business, and wished that
some arrangement could be made by which the par-
ties might be married under the certificate. Fisher
produced the certificate, which Mr. James, the de-
fendant, said he supposed was all right according to
law. Fisher then made a distinct and formal de-