The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1869-10-22
MARRIAGE LAWS

fcccnC ScSSIO1l O1 the British House or
Commons-which was very much
ovcrworkcd body, according to all ac-
counts-a number Of important sub
jccts wcrc postponed; among them
that Of tho marriage laws introduced
by Sir Rounded Palmer. An intcI!i-
gent writer to the New York Times
makes the following notice Of this
matter:
The principal Of religious equality,
row practically recognized for the
first time three centuries after the Re-
formation, seems to require some sort
OF equality, and, ifpossiblc, uniformity,
in tho laws relating to marriage
The laws, as they now exist, Sir
ltoundcll may well call extraordinary.
In England people arc married by
bans, or dispensed from them by
license. In church marriages no reg
lStrar is required to be present: among
non-conformists his attendance is re-
quisitc. The Quallcrs have IL separate
law all to themselves. If the place
where the marriage is celebrated has
not been properly consecratcd, the
marriage is invalid. 1t can only be
performed within certain hours-nev-
cr later than IL A. M. In Scotland
thcro marriage by simple consent of
the parties; marriages according to
three or four different laws, and ir-
regular marriages, which mako people
liable to fine; but the payment of
tho fine lcgalizcs tho marriage, and
this is Il common modo of procedure.
In Ireland there is ono law for Pro
tcstant churchmen, another for Pres
bytcrians, and no law at all for Cath
ollcs, except a law of pains and penal
tiles in certain cases. If q Roman
Catholic priest should presume to col
ebratc q marriage between Roman
Catholic and Protestant, or even be-
tween q Roman Catholic and q person
who had been n Protestant within n
year Of tho marriage. till com 7arativc-
ly a recent time, that was a capital of
fence Of n very high order and the
marriage is absolutely void. OF tho
irregular Scottish marriages, Sir Roun-
dell has the horror that might be cX-
pcctcd in an English lawyer and
churchman, and his description of
them is technical and droll. Ho says:
The system Of irregular marriag gcs
in Scotland is q very startling thing
to those whose minds arc not thorough
ly accustomed to it. It is contracted
in two different ways. Suppose any
gentleman in this house visited a
house in Scotland where young lady
happens to be staying, and that he
and the young lady took walk to-
gcthcr, and in the course of the walk
he took pieco of paper out of his
pocket, on which they wrote down q
mutual promise to marry though the
piece Of paper might be simply put
nothing might be said to anybody
about the writing: and though nobody
else might be there at the time, if the
persons afterwards lived in q certain
way together, that would he q valid
marriage, although nobody might
know Of the fact of the marriage for
years afterwards. No nero promise
will constitute marriage unless it be
in writing, and unless subsequente eopula.
A promise so given and so followed
constitutes good marriage, however
long it may be kept sacred. There is
''hoChet cVeH lnoic extraordinary
mode, in which no writing at all is nc
ccssary; and that is where tho prom
ise is made not de future, but de present.
where tho woman says Il take you,
John, for my husband and where the
man says, Il take you, Mary, for my
wife, before witnesses. A promise of
that kind being brought mp at any fu-
turc period, even although tho peoplc
have never lived together, will hold
good, and will be sufficient to ovcrturn
any perfectly honorable and reputable
marriage that either Of the parties
may havo subsequently entered into
and this actually occurred in tho cclc-
bratcd Dalrymplc case.