Further to Mary's posting re changes in the Marriage Act is some additional information which was posted to the Suffolk-List in 2002 (and of course we abided by English Law and my family closet isn't rattling!!): The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act was finally passed in 1907 (and came into effect in 1908) after over a half-century of sometimes acrimonious debate; in 1921 this act was modified to allow marriage with a deceased brother's widow. In 1931 the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act legalised marriage between a man and deceased wife's aunts and nieces (& corresponding for a female); the Church of England came into line with civil law in 1940. The Marriage Act of 1835 made them illegal in the first place - The prohibition on marrying your brother's wife comes from an Old Testament text: "If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an impurity: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless." (Leviticus xx,21.) Now you might well notice that this could easily mean don't take your brother's wife _while he is alive_, but the medieval church interpreted it to mean that people could not marry their deceased spouse's sibling, at all. The church did, however, grant dispensations from the prohibition. Before the Marriage Act of 1835 made them illegal, there was no outright civil ban on these marriages in England although they were certainly discouraged but they were considered voidable, (meaning either party could use the relationship as a reason to annul the marriage) but were not void. Many couples had to go to France to contract these marriages because the clergy in Britain opposed it because of the canon law. By the 1830's, eminent people who had contracted these marriages and feared they might later be declared void, sought to have their position stabilised and a bill was introduced by Lord Lyndhurst to regularise them. The bill that was passed in 1835 enacted that "all marriages which shall hereafter be celebrated between persons within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity shall be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever." At the same time the act did legalise all marriages within the prohibited degrees of affinity (i.e. with deceased wife's sister) that had been celebrated before August 31, 1835. That meant that all those eminent people (and their children) were safe. It was only any later marriages, after the date of the Marriage Act (1835) which were void. From 1841 onwards, bills to remove the prohibition were introduced in almost every Parliament and it finally passed in 1907. The issue prompted the classic line from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta 'Iolanthe' - "We will prick that annual blister, marriage to deceased wife's sister". Kind Regards Roz Voullaire roz@voullaire.com.au ----- Original Message ----- From: "MM" <elthamlax@techinfo.com.au> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 4:36 PM Subject: [HC] Transcripts of Various Acts of Parliament of interest to the Genealogist > > An interesting page to look at on a cold Melbourne Sunday afternoon. > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~framland/acts/actind.htm > > The Act of Parliament allowing a man to marry his widow's sister was > enacted in 1907 and that the Act to allow a woman to > marry her husband's brother (after said husband died!) was enacted in 1921. > > There must have been any number of illegal marriages before those dates, > then! > > Mary > > >