The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-26


The statute has caused a great deal OF
hardship and unhappiness. IL having
been computed that, under II. many
thousands OF children have been born
"illegitimate." As time went on, the
unreasonableness of the prohibition be-
came generally recognized by English
Diesenters. and even by a good many
lay members OF the Church Of England,
while most Of the British colonies refused
TO follow the example Of the mother
country in this particular.
The consequence OF this conflict Of
laws was that a British subject might
contract a marriage in Australia which
would be valid there, but would become
illegal il he brought his wife and children
to England. If he left property in
Australia his children could inherit it,
but il his property were situated in
England they could obtain il only by
will. With the object Of removing the
grievance complained Of by colonials,
the British Government not long ago
modified the Lyndhurst law by providing
that a marriage with a deceased wife's
sister performed in a British colony
should, il valid there, be valid also in
the parent State. The natural effect OF
the amendment was TO point out a method
Of evsding the Objectionable statute.
If an Englishman and n deceased wife's
sister desired to marry, all they needed
to do was 10 have the ceremony cele-
brated during a brief s~ojourn in one Of
the colonies, after which they were at
liberty to return home with the assur-
ance that the union would be legal there
as well.
Under the circumstances il soon came
to be deemed an absurdity hat a rem
nant of the Lyndhurst act should have
been suffered TO remain upon the statute
book. The bill now about to be enacted
not only repeats the old law, by making
all future marriages with deceased wives
sisters lawful, but has a retroactive ef-
feet, legalizing also all such unions "a
have taken place since 1885. The only
vestige Of the Lyndhurst act that will
remain is the provision that property
which may have changed hands under
il shall not be disturbed.
The Lyndhurst law has brought about
during the three-quarters Of a century
that it has kept a place upon the statute
book many a romance in real life, and
more than one novel has turned upon it.
The law itself had a sentimental origin,
If there is ground for the current belief
that 4 Ord I vAynIlUspGr frannA1 Il x,,t &c
a desire to oblige a great nobleman who
had married a deceased wife's sister
and wished to remove the possibility
Of a cloud on the legitimacy of her
offspring. This the Tory Chancellor
managed to do by providing that all
marriages Of the kind celebrated before
the act Of 1885 should be lawful. only
those performed afterward being pro-
nounced invalid. Thus was a social
magnate gratified, while at the same
time the minimum of offence was given
to the prejudices Of the Anglican prelates
and clergy.
The motive impeling the Anglican
Church and its founder, henry VIII,
to declare unlawful a kind OF marriage
which was and is perfectly valid in the
Church Of Rome is sufficiently obvious.
CATHERINE of Aragon in marrying
HENRY VIII. married the brother of her
deceased husband. II that marriage
was lawful HENRY had no cause for
divorce. To leave himself at liberty to
marry ANNE BoLEYN he had to assert
the principle that marriage with a de-
ceased wife's sister or a deceased hus-
bands brother, which was forbidden
in Judea by the Levitical law, was I'M
lawful in England also.