The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-10-27
English Marriage Law.

London News.
The bill for legaiizing marriage with a de
| ceased wife's sister was again rejected by thu
House of Lords last evening by majorit
of IL. Lord Houghton, who introduced tn
measure, contented himself with a brief ant
moderate speech. The position OF the argu
| ment is AS follows: On the one side 1t i
urged that as the Equalization of such mar
riages would be a great comfort and conye
nieuce TO anumber other MAjesty's subjects
| aud as the alleged prohibition of them By
| scripture is at least doubtful, Parliament
ought at once to interfere to give all suel
marriages statutory validity, leaving thost
vino please to be still guided In their con-
duet by the table OF prohibited degrees Be-
fore the act OF 1885, such marriages were moi
void, but only voidable voidabie, that is, by
the sentence of the ecclesiastical courts, il
pronounced during the lifetime of the parties
but otherwise legal, and entailing no Illegiti-
macy on the children. Before this date mar
riages of the kind were uncommon, but in
that year it seems to have been felt that
great inconvenience was occasioned by leay
Ing them on this doubtful footing. A man,
for instance, at the age of thirty might mar
~ his deceased wife's sister, and the chill
dren of that marriage might not know for
forty wears or more-not, in fact, till the
death OF one of their parents-whether they
were legitimate or not. This Is the reason
given in the preamble of the act, and this
was the argument relied upon by the promot-
ers of the measure in Parliament. 1t was
not, however, denied that there was an al
tentative method of overcoming the difficult
ty. The object of the act vas to do away
with the uncertainty attaching to such mar
riages. But this might have been effected
by declaring them absolutely valid, as well
as by declaring them absolutely void, and
as the former course was not to be thought
of in consequence of the strong religious feel
ing which prevailed in the country, the leg
islature was compelled to fall back upon the
latter, if an acknowledged and crying evil
was to be remedied at ALL This is one view
of the case. On the other side it is contend
ed, first of all, that the Scriptural prohibit
ton is not doubtful, and, secondly, that,
even if it were, the measure ofrelief demand
ed would practically defeat itself; that it
would either destroy the very intimacy be-
tween the two relatives which is now alleged
as such an excellent reason Tor enabling them
to marry. or, when it did not do this, would
be constant temptation to immortality.
The more practical objections to the meas
ures are based entirely ON the last named
The religious objection is one
to be regarded with sincere respect, yet we
can not but think that it arises from some
His wife's sister is certainly
one of the persons whom man by the eccle~
siastical law is forbidden to marry. But as
for nearly 300 years such marriages contin
ued to be contracted without the church in
to prevent them, and as the law at
length passed to invalidate them was based
exclusively on convenience, and had no ref
erence to religion, it is difficult to believe
that the religious difficulty can be very
serious one