Attempting again as the first seems to have been lost in the delves of cyberspace or snaffooed by the gremlins!! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roz Voullaire" <roz@voullaire.com.au> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 5:38 PM Subject: Re: [HC] Transcripts of Various Acts of Parliament of interest to the Genealogist > 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 > > > > > > >