The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-09-12
r aIarr9GssEawe n yHv
hst etore thefaaj dhrnl, ,snt af theSel
session of the Britih Hodse9of

&pSt Hetore th6IadJ0nrnL,6nt0 0f thosSe-S
cent session of tlb EBritHh Hodse3of
CoPm$ps-which Hal o veSS mIch oter-
kwofEe9 body, according t6 all 5aocoqAts
Ia number Of Important subjects were
postponed; among them that of the mar
rage laws introduced by Sir Roundell
falmer An intelligent writer to the
notice Of this matter:-4
''The princirte of religions eoualitxJ
now practically recognized for the first
time three centuries after the reforma-
ton, seems to require some sort of equal
ty, and, il, possible, uniformity, in the
laws relating to marriage. The laws, as
they now exist, Sir Roundell may well
call extraordinary. In England people
ere, married by bans, or dispensed from
them by licenss. In chnrch marriages no
registrar is required to be present; among
non-conformists his attendance is reoui.
site. The .Quakers. have separate law
all to themselves. If the place whore the
marriage is celebrated has not been pro-
perly consecrated the marriage is invalid.
1t can only be performed within certain
hours-never later than, IL, A. M. In
Scotland there is marriage by simple con
sent of the parties; marriages according
to three or four different laws, and ire
gular' marriages, which make people liza
BILE to fine; but the payment of the fine
legalizes the marriage, and this is q com
mon mode Of procedure, In Ireland
there as one law for Protestsnt church
men, another for Presbyterians, and no
Law at al! for Catholics, except lay, of
pains and penalties in certain cases. If
Roman Catholic priest should presume
to celebrate marriage between Roman
Catholic and .Prptestant, or even between
a Roman CATHOLIC apd. a person who had
been a Protestant within a year of the,
marriage, till comparatively a. -Eanant
time that Mas capital offence, and eyen
now 1t Ais d criminaif ofeuee Of avery
high order, and the marriage liz absoluts-
ly void. OF the irregular Scottish mar
riages, Sir Ronndeil has the horror that
might be expected in an English lawyer
and churchman, and his description of
them is technical and droll, He says:
''The system of irregular marriages in
Scotland is very startling thing to those
whose minds ate not, thoroughly accus-
toned to it. 1T is contracted in two
different ways. Suppose any gentleman
in this house visited n house in Scotland
where q yourg lady happens to be stay
ing, and that lie and the young lady took
walk together, and in the course of the
walk he took piece of paper out of his
pocket, on which they wrote down O
mutual promise to marry; though the
piece of paper might be simply put back
again into his pocket; though nothing
might be said to anybody about the
writing; and though nobody else might
be there at the time, if the persons after
wards lived in q certain way together
that would be 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 su6seoueute
copula. A promise so given and so fol-
lowed constitutes good marriage, how
ever long it may be kept secret. There
is another even more extraordinary
mode, in which no writing at all is neces-
sary; and that is where the promise is
made not lie .futa'o, but de present.
where the woman says, I take you,
John, for my husband and where the
man says, L take you, Mary, for my
wife, before witnesses. A promise OF
that kind being brought up at any future
PERIOD, although the people have
never Ii. +, d together, will hold good, and
will be sufficient to overturn any per-
fectly honorable and reputable marriage
that either of the parties may have sub
sequently entered into; and this actually
occurred in the celebrated Dalrymple
case"