A transcript of the Marriage Act, 1949
Parts IV - VI

 

PART IV.

REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGES.

53. Subject to the provisions of Part V of this Act, a marriage shall be registered in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act by the following person, that is to say,-
(a) in the case of a marriage solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England, by the clergyman by whom the marriage is solemnized ;
(b) in the case of a marriage solemnized according to the usages of the Society of Friends, by the registering officer of that Society appointed for the district in which the marriage is solemnized ;
(c) in the case of a marriage solemnized according to the usages of persons professing the Jewish religion, by the secretary of the synagogue of which the husband is a member ;
(d) in the case of a marriage solemnized in a registered building in the presence of a registrar, by that registrar ;
(e) in the case of a marriage solemnized in a registered building without the presence of a registrar, by the authorised person in whose presence the marriage is solemnized ;
(f) in the case of a marriage solemnized in the office of a superintendent registrar, by the registrar in whose presence the marriage is solemnized.

54.-(I) The Registrar General shall furnish to the rector, vicar or curate in charge of every church and chapel in which marriages may be solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as the "incumbent") and to every registering officer of the Society of Friends, secretary of a synagogue and registrar and, in the case of a registered building for which an authorised person has been appointed, to the authorised person or to the trustees or governing body of the building, such number of register books for making entries of marriages in the prescribed form, and such number of forms for making certified copies of those entries, as may be required for the purposes of this Part of this Act.
(2) Marriage register books furnished as aforesaid shall be of durable materials, and the heads of information required to be known and registered in relation to marriages shall be printed on each side of every leaf thereof; and every page of a marriage register book, and every place of entry therein, shall be numbered progressively from the beginning to the end of the book, beginning with the number one, and every entry shall be divided from the following entry by a printed line.

55.-(I) Every person who is required under this Part of this Act to register a marriage shall, immediately after the solemnization of the marriage, or, in the case of a marriage according to the usages of the Society of Friends, as soon as conveniently may be after the solemnization of the marriage, register in duplicate in two marriage register books the particulars relating to the marriage in the prescribed form :
Provided that-
(a) where a registrar is required to register a marriage as aforesaid, the said particulars need not be registered in duplicate ;
(b) before registering a marriage in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, a registering officer of the Society of Friends and a secretary of a synagogue shall, whether or not he was present at the marriage, satisfy himself that the proceedings in relation to the marriage were conformable to the usages of the said Society or of persons professing the Jewish religion, as the case may be.
(2) Every entry made in a marriage register book by virtue of this section by a clergyman, registering officer, secretary or authorised person shall be signed by the clergyman, registering officer, secretary or authorised person, as the case may be, and by the parties to the marriage and two witnesses, and every entry so made by a registrar shall be signed by the person by or before whom the marriage was solemnized, if any, and by the registrar, the parties to the marriage and two witnesses.
(3) Every entry made in a marriage register book by virtue of this section shall be made in consecutive order from the beginning to the end of each book and, in the case of an entry made otherwise than by a registrar, the number of the entry shall be the same in each duplicate marriage register book.

56. Every person who is required under this Part of this Act to register a marriage may ask the parties to the marriage the particulars relating to the marriage which are required to be entered in the marriage register book.

57.-(I) Every incumbent, registering officer of the Society of Friends, secretary of a synagogue, authorised person and registrar shall in the months of January, April, July and October-
(a) make and deliver to the superintendent registrar, on forms supplied by the Registrar General, a true copy certified by him under his hand of all entries of marriages made in the marriage register book kept by him during the period of three months ending with the last day of the month immediately before the month in which the copy is required by this subsection to be made ; or
(b) if no marriage has been registered in the said book during that period, deliver to the superintendent registrar a certificate of that fact under his hand, on a form supplied by the Registrar General.
(2) The certified copies and certificates required to be delivered by a registrar under the last foregoing subsection shall be delivered to the superintendent registrar on such days in the months of January, April, July and October as may be appointed by the Registrar General, and shall be certified by the registrar in the prescribed form.
(3) Any incumbent and any authorised person who is required by subsection (I) of this section to deliver to the superintendent registrar a certified copy of entries in the marriage register book or a certificate that no marriage has been registered, may deliver the copy or certificate to any registrar who is under the superintendence of that superintendent registrar, and every registrar who receives such a certified copy or certificate shall deliver it to the superintendent registrar ; and a superintendent registrar may direct the registrars under his superintendence quarterly or more often, if he thinks fit or is ordered so to do by the Registrar General, to collect any such certified copies or certificates from every incumbent and authorised person within his registration district.
(4) The superintendent registrar shall pay or cause to be paid to every incumbent and authorised person by whom a certified copy is delivered under subsection (I) of this section the sum of sixpence for every entry contained in the certified copy ; and that sum shall be reimbursed to the superintendent registrar by the council of the county or county borough in which registration district is situated :
Provided that where a registration district is in the administrative county of London the said sum shall be reimbursed to the superintendent registrar by-
(a) in the case of a registration district in a metropolitan borough, the council of that borough ;
(b) in the case of a registration district in the City of London, the Common Council of that City.
(5) Where a certified copy is delivered to the superintendent registrar by a registrar under subsection (I) of this section, the superintendent registrar shall verify the copy and, if the copy if found to be correct, shall certify it under his hand to be a true copy ; and where a certificate that no marriage has been registered is so delivered, the superintendent registrar shall countersign the certificate.
(6) A superintendent registrar who is not a salaried officer shall be entitled to receive the sum of two pence for every entry in the certified copies delivered to him under this section, and shall four times in every year make out an account of the number of entries in the certified copies delivered to him during the preceding three months.

58.-(I) Every superintendent registrar shall, four times in every year on such days as may be appointed by the Registrar General, send to the Registrar General all certified copies of entries in marriage register books which he has received during the three months immediately before the days so appointed respectively, and if it appears, by interruption of the regular progression of numbers or otherwise, that the copy of any part of any book has not been duly delivered to him, the superintendent registrar shall as far as possible procure, consistently with the provisions of this Part of this Act, that the deficiency is remedied.
(2) The certified copies sent to the Registrar General under the last foregoing subsection shall be kept in the General Register Office in such order and such manner as the Registrar General, under the direction of the Minister of Health, may think fit so that they may be most readily seen and examined.

59. Every incumbent, registering officer of the Society of Friends, secretary of a synagogue, authorised person and registrar shall keep marriage register books safely until they are filled, so however that any register book kept by an authorised person shall be kept in accordance with regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act and any register book kept by a registrar shall, when not in use, be kept in the register box provided for the purpose by the Registrar General in accordance with section fourteen of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1836.

60.-(I) Where any marriage register book required to be kept in duplicate under this Part of this Act is filled, one copy thereof shall be delivered to the superintendent registrar and the other copy-
(a) in the case of a register book kept by an incumbent, shall remain in the custody of the incumbent and be kept by him with the registers of baptisms and burials of the parish or other ecclesiastical district in which the marriages registered therein have been solemnized ;
(b) in the case of a register book kept by a registering officer of the Society of Friends or by the secretary of a synagogue, shall remain in the custody of the members of the Society of Friends or of persons professing the Jewish religion, as the case may be, to be kept with the other registers and records of the said Society or of the said persons, and shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be in the keeping of the registering officer or secretary for the time being, as the case may be ;
(c) in the case of a register book kept by an authorised person, shall be kept in prescribed custody.
(2) Where a marriage register book kept by a registrar is filled, the registrar shall deliver it to the superintendent registrar to be kept by him with the records of his office.

61.-(I) A person required to register a marriage under this Part of this Act who discovers an error in the form or substance of an entry made in a marriage register book kept by him shall not be liable to any penalty by reason only that, within one month after the discovery of the error, he corrects the erroneous entry in the presence of the parties to the marriage to which the entry relates or, in the case of the death or absence of either of those parties, in the presence of the superintendent registrar and two other credible witnesses, by entry in the margin of the register book, without any alteration of the original entry.
(2) Any such marginal entry as aforesaid shall be signed by the person by whom the entry is made and shall be attested by the persons in whose presence the entry is required to be made under the last foregoing subsection, and the person by whom the entry is made shall add the date when it is made.
(3) Where any such marginal entry is made by a person who is required to register marriages in duplicate under this Part of this Act, that person shall make the like entry, attested in the like manner, in the duplicate marriage register book.
(4) Any person who makes any such marginal entry as aforesaid shall make the like entry in the certified copy of the register book required to be made by him under this Part of this Act or, if a certified copy has already been delivered to the superintendent registrar, shall make and deliver to the superintendent registrar a separate certified copy of the erroneous entry and of the marginal correction made therein.
(5) Where a marriage to which an erroneous entry in a marriage register relates has been solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England and either of the parties to the marriage is dead or absent, the reference in subsection (I) of section to the superintendent registrar and two other credible witnesses shall be construed as a reference either to those persons or to the church wardens or chapel wardens of the church or chapel in which the marriage was solemnized.

62.-(I) Where any church or chapel of the Church of England ceases to be used for the solemnization of marriages, whether by reason of demolition, revocation of a licence or otherwise, any marriage register books in the custody of the incumbent of that church or chapel shall forthwith be delivered to the incumbent of the church which is, or becomes, the parish church of the parish in which the disused church or chapel is situated.
(2) Any incumbent to whom any marriage register books have been delivered under the last foregoing subsection-
(a) shall, when he next delivers to the superintendent registrar under this Part of this Act a certified copy of the entries in the marriage register books of marriages solemnized in the parish church, deliver also a copy of all entries which have been made in the first mentioned marriage register books after the date of the last entry therein of which a certified copy has already been delivered to the superintendent registrar; and
(b) shall, unless the said first mentioned marriage register books are the only register books in use for the parish, forward such of the said books as have not been filled to the Registrar General in order that they may be formally closed.

63.-(I) Every incumbent, registering officer of the Society of Friends, secretary of a synagogue and registrar by whom a marriage register book is kept shall at all reasonable hours allow searches to be made in any marriage register book in his keeping, and shall give a copy certified under his hand of any entry in such a book, on payment of the following fee, that is to say-
(a) for every search covering a period of not more than one year, the sum of one shilling, and for every search covering a period of more than one year, the sum of one shilling for the first year together with an additional sixpence for every additional year; and
(b) for every certified copy, the sum of two shillings and sixpence.
(2) The last foregoing subsection shall apply in the case of a registered building for which an authorised person has been appointed with the substitution for the reference to the incumbent of a reference to the person having the custody of a marriage register book in accordance with regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act.

64.-(I) Every superintendent registrar shall cause indexes of the marriage register books in his office to be made and to be kept with the other records of his office, and the Registrar General shall supply to every superintendent registrar suitable forms for the making of such indexes.
(2) Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable hours to search the said indexes, and to have a certified copy of any entry in the said marriage register books under the hand of the superintendent registrar, on payment to the superintendent registrar of the following fee, that is to say :-
(a) for every general search, the sum of five shillings :
(b) for every particular search, the sum of one shilling : and
(c) for every certified copy, the sum of two shillings and sixpence.

65.-(I) The Registrar General shall cause indexes of all certified copies of entries in marriage register books sent to him under this Part of this Act to be made and kept in the General Register Office.
(2) Any person shall be entitled to search the said indexes between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon of every day, except Sundays, Christmas Day and Good Friday, and to have a certified copy of any entry in the said certified copies of marriage register books, on payment to the Registrar General or to such other person as may be appointed to act on his behalf of the following fee, that is to say :-
(a) for every general search, the sum of twenty shillings ;
(b) for every particular search, the sum of one shilling ; and
(c) for every certified copy, the sum of two shillings and sixpence.
(3) The Registrar General shall cause all certified copies of entries given in the General Register Office to be sealed or stamped with the seal of that Office ; and any certified copy of an entry to be sealed or stamped with the said seal shall be received as evidence of the marriage to which it relates without any further or other proof of the entry, and no certified copy purporting to have been given in the said Office shall be of any force or effect unless it is sealed or stamped as aforesaid.
(4) Every sum received under this section by or on behalf of the Registrar General shall be accounted for by the Registrar General and paid by him, at such times as the Treasury from time to time may direct, into the Exchequer.

66. Any certificate, return or other document required by this Part of this Act to be delivered or sent to the Registrar General, a superintendent registrar or a registrar may be sent by post.

67. In this Part of this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say :-
"general search" means a search conducted during any number of successive hours not exceeding six, without the object of the search being specified ;
"incumbent" has the meaning assigned to it by section fifty-four of this Act ;
"particular search" means a search of the indexes covering a period not exceeding five years for a specified entry ;
"registering officer of the Society of Friends" means a person whom the recording clerk of the Society of Friends certifies in writing under his hand to the Registrar General to be a registering officer in England of that Society ;
"secretary of a synagogue" means-
(a) a person whom the President of the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews certifies in writing to the Registrar General to be the secretary of a synagogue in England of persons professing the Jewish religion ;
(b) the person whom twenty householders professing the Jewish religion and being members of the West London Synagogue of British Jews certify in writing to the Registrar General to be the secretary of that Synagogue ;
(c) a person whom the secretary of the said Synagogue certifies in writing to be the secretary of some other synagogue of not less than twenty householders professing the Jewish religion, being a synagogue which is connected with the said West London Synagogue and has been established for not less than one year ;
"superintendent registrar" means-
(a) in the case of a marriage registered by a clergyman, the superintendent registrar of the registration district in which the church or chapel in which the marriage was solemnized is situated ;
(b) in the case of a marriage registered by a registering officer of the Society of Friends, the superintendent registrar of the registration district which is assigned by the Registrar General to that registering officer ;
(c) in the case of a marriage registered by the secretary of a synagogue, the superintendent registrar of the registration district which is assigned by the Registrar General to that secretary ;
(d) in the case of a marriage registered by an authorised person, the superintendent registrar of the registration district in which the registered building in which the marriage was solemnized is situated ;
(e) in them case of a marriage registered by a registrar, the superintendent registrar of the registration district within which that registrar was appointed to act.

PART V.

MARRIAGES IN NAVAL, MILITARY, AND AIR FORCE CHAPELS.

68.-(I) The use of any chapel to which this Part of this Act applies for the publication therein of banns of marriages to which this Part of this Act applies, and for the solemnization therein, whether according to the rites of the Church of England or otherwise, of such marriages, may be authorised under and subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act.
(2) This Part of this Act shall apply only to chapels which are certified by the Admiralty to be naval chapels and to chapels which are certified by a Secretary of State to be military or air force chapels, and shall apply only to marriages between parties of whom one at least is a qualified person, that is to say a person who, at the relevant date-
(a) is serving in the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, Regular Land Forces or the Regular Air Forces ; or
(b) has served in any force mentioned in the last foregoing paragraph otherwise than with a commission granted or under an engagement entered into only for the purpose of a war or other national emergency ; or
(c) is, as a member of a reserve of officers, a reserve force, the Territorial Army or the Auxiliary Air Force, called out on actual or permanent service or embodied ; or
(d) is a woman actually employed in any capacity specified in the Third Schedule to this Act, as amended by any Order in Council for the time being in force under this section, in the service of any force mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection ; or
(e) is a daughter of a person qualified under any of the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection.
(3) For the purposes of the last foregoing subsection, the expression "relevant date" means-
(a) in a case where notice is given under section eight of this Act before publications of banns, the date of the notice ;
(b) in a case where banns are published without notice, the date of the first publication of banns ;
(c) in a case where an oath is taken under section sixteen of this Act for the purpose of obtaining a common licence, the date of taking the oath ;
(d) in any other case, the date when notice of marriage is given to the superintendent registrar under section twenty-seven of this Act ;
and the expression "daughter" includes a daughter adopted under the Adoption of Children Act, 1926, but does not include a step-daughter.
(4) His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that subject to any exceptions specified in the Order, there shall be added to Part I, Part II or Part III of the Third Schedule to this Act, women in the service of any of His Majesty's naval, military or air forces respectively in such capacities as, may be specified in the Order.
(5) An Order in Council made under the last foregoing subsection may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in Council.
(6) Nothing in this Part of this Act shall be taken to confer upon any person a right to be married in a chapel to which this Part of this Act applies.

69.-(I) With respect to marriages according to the rites of the Church of England, the bishop of the diocese in which any chapel to which this Part of this Act applies is situated may, on the application of the Admiralty, in the case of a naval chapel, or of a Secretary of State, in the case of any other chapel, by licence authorise the publication of banns of marriages to which this Part of this Act applies, and the solemnization of such marriages, in the chapel, and while any such licence in respect of the chapel is in force-
(a) any such banns or marriages which could lawfully be published or solemnized in the parish church of the parish in which the chapel is situated may be published or solemnized in the chapel ; and
(b) the foregoing provisions of this Act relating to marriages according to the rites of the Church of England (excluding the provisions specified in Part I of the Fourth Schedule to this Act) shall apply in relation to the chapel, and in relation to the publication of banns therein, and in relation to marriages solemnized or intended to be solemnized therein according to those rites, as if the chapel were a parish church :
Provided that the provisions of this Act specified in Part II of the said Schedule shall apply subject to the modifications that Part.
(2) Where a licence has been issued in respect of a chapel under this section, the bishop of the diocese in which the chapel is situated may at any time, and shall on the application of the Admiralty or a Secretary of State, revoke the licence.
(3) Upon the issue or revocation of a licence under this section, the registrar of the diocese shall register that fact and give notice thereof in writing to the Admiralty or a Secretary of State, as the case may be, who shall cause a copy of the notice to be published in the London Gazette and in some newspaper circulating in the diocese and to be sent to the Registrar General.
(4) The Admiralty or any person authorised by them, in the case of a naval chapel licensed under this section, and a Secretary of State or any person authorised by him, in the case of any other chapel so licensed, shall appoint one or more clergymen for the purpose of registering marriages solemnized in the chapel according to the rites of the Church of England, and no marriage shall be solemnized in the chapel according to those rites except in the presence of a clergyman so appointed.
(5) The provisions of this Act, and of any regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act, relating to the registration of marriages by authorised persons shall apply in relation to marriages solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England in a chapel licensed under this section as they apply in relation to marriages solemnized in a registered building without the presence of a registrar, subject to the following modifications :-
(a) for any reference in those provisions to an authorised person there shall be substituted a reference to a clergyman appointed under this section, and
(b) for any reference in those provisions to the trustees or governing body of a registered building there shall be substituted a reference to the Admiralty or any person authorised by them, in the case of a naval chapel, and a reference to a Secretary of State or any person authorised by him, in the case of any other chapel.

70.-(I) With respect to marriages otherwise than according to the rites of the Church of England the Registrar General shall, on the application of the Admiralty, in the case of a naval chapel, or of a Secretary of State, in the case of any other chapel, register any chapel to which this Part of this Act applies for the solemnization therein of marriages to which this Part of this Act applies, and while any chapel is so registered-
(a) any such marriages which could lawfully be solemnized in a registered building situated in the same registration district as the chapel, may be solemnized in the chapel ; and
(b) the foregoing provisions of this Act relating to marriages otherwise than according to the rites of the Church of England and to the registration of such marriages (excluding the provisions specified in Part III of the Fourth Schedule to this Act) shall apply in relation to the chapel, and in relation to marriages solemnized or intended to be solemnized therein otherwise than according to those rites, as if the chapel were a registered building :
Provided that the provisions of this Act specified in Part IV of the said Schedule shall apply subject to the modifications specified in that Part.
(2) The Registrar General shall, on the application of the Admiralty or a Secretary of State, as the case may be, cancel the registration of any chapel registered by him under this section.
(3) Immediately after registering, or cancelling the registration of, any chapel under this section, the Registrar General shall cause notice of that fact to be published in the London Gazette and in some newspaper circulating in the registration district in which the chapel is situated and to be given to the superintendent registrar of that district, who shall record the registration or cancellation in such manner as may be prescribed by the Registrar General.

71. Where a marriage has been solemnized under this Part of this Act, it shall not be necessary, in support of the marriage, to give any proof-
(a) that the chapel in which the marriage was solemnized was certified or licensed or registered in accordance with this Part of this Act ; or
(b) that either of the parties was a qualified person within the meaning of this Part of this Act ; or
(c) in the case of a marriage according to the rites of the Church of England, that the marriage was solemnized in the presence of a clergyman duly appointed under this Part of this Act for the purpose of registering marriages ;
and no evidence shall be given to prove the contrary in any proceedings touching the validity of any such marriage.

PART VI.

GENERAL.

72.-(I) For the purposes of the following provisions of this Act, that is to say, subsection (4) of section six paragraph (b) of subsection (I) of section fifteen and subsection (3) of section thirty-five, no parish church or authorised chapel shall be deemed to be the usual place of worship of any person unless he is enrolled on the church electoral roll of the area in which that church or chapel is situated, and where any person is enrolled on the church electoral roll of an area in which he does not reside that enrolment shall be sufficient evidence that his usual place of worship is a parish church or authorised chapel in that area.
(2) Persons intending to be married shall have the like but no greater right of having their banns published and marriage solemnized by virtue of the said provisions in a parish church or authorised chapel which is the usual place of worship of one or both of them as they have of having their banns published and marriage solemnized in the parish church or public chapel of the parish or chapelry in which they or one of them resides.
(3) Where any marriage has been solemnized by virtue of the said provisions it shall not be necessary in support of the marriage to give any proof of the actual enrolment of the parties or of one of them on the church electoral roll of the area in which the parish church or authorised chapel in which the marriage was solemnized was situated, nor shall any evidence be given to prove the contrary in any proceedings touching the validity of the marriage.
(4) In this section the expression "church electoral roll" means a church electoral roll provision for which is made in the Rules for the Representation of the Laity contained in the Schedule to the Representation of the Laity Measure, 1929.

73.-(I), The registrar of every. diocese shall, within fifteen days after the first day of January in every year, make out and send by post to the Registrar General at his office a list of all chapels within that diocese in which marriages may be solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England (being chapels which belong to the Church of England or have been licensed under Part V of this Act), and shall distinguish in that list which chapels have a parish, chapelry or other recognised ecclesiastical division annexed to them, which are chapels licensed under section twenty of this Act and which are chapels licensed under the said Part V, and, in the case of chapels licensed under the said section twenty, shall state in the list the district for which each chapel is licensed according to the description thereof in the licence.
(2) The Registrar General shall in every year make out and cause to be printed a list of all chapels included in any list sent to him under the last foregoing subsection and of all registered buildings and shall state in that list the county and registration district within which each chapel or registered building is situated and the names and places of residence of the superintendent registrars, registrars and deputy registrars of each district.
(3) A copy of every list made by the Registrar General under the last foregoing subsection shall be sent to every registrar and superintendent registrar.

74. The Registrar General, with the approval of the Minister of Health, may by statutory instrument make regulations-
(a) prescribing the duties of superintendent registrars, registrars, and authorised persons under this Act ;
(b) prescribing any thing which by this Act is required to be prescribed.

75.-(I) Any person who knowingly and wilfully-
(a) solemnizes a marriage at any other time than between the hours of eight in the forenoon and six in the afternoon (not being a marriage by special licence, a marriage according to the usages of the Society of Friends or a marriage between two persons professing the Jewish religion according to the usages of the Jews) ;
(b) solemnizes a marriage according to the rites of the Church of England without banns of matrimony having been duly published (not being a marriage solemnized on the authority of a special licence, a common licence or a certificate of a superintendent registrar) ;
(c) solemnizes a marriage according to the said rites (not being a marriage by special licence) in any place other than a church or other building in which banns may be published ;
(d) solemnizes a marriage according to the said rites falsely pretending to be in Holy Orders ;
shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding fourteen years.
(2) Any person who knowingly and wilfully-
(a) solemnizes a marriage (not being a marriage by special licence, a marriage according to the usages of the Society of Friends or a marriage between two persons professing the Jewish religion according to the usages of the Jews) in any place other than-
(i) a church or other building in which marriages may be solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England, or
(ii) the registered building or office specified in the notice of marriage and certificate required under Part III of this Act ;
(b) so1emnizes a marriage in any such registered building as aforesaid (not being a marriage in the presence of an authorised person) in the absence of a registrar of the district in which the registered building is situated ;
(c) solemnizes a marriage in the office of a superintendent registrar in the absence of a registrar of the district in which the office is situated ;
(d) solemnizes a marriage on the authority of a certificate of a superintendent registrar (not being a marriage by licence) within twenty-one days after the day on which the notice of marriage was entered in the marriage notice book ; or
(e) solemnizes a marriage on the authority of a certificate of a superintendent registrar after the expiration of three months from the said day on which the notice of marriage was entered as aforesaid ;
shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable to imprisonment term not exceeding five years.
(3) A superintendent registrar who knowingly and wilfully-
(a), issues any certificate for marriage (not being a marriage by licence) before the expiration of twenty-one days from the day on which the notice of marriage was entered in the marriage notice book, or issues a certificate for marriage by licence before the expiration of one whole day from the said day on which the notice was entered as aforesaid ;
(b) issues any certificate or licence for marriage after the expiration of three months from the said day ;
(c) issues any certificate the issue of which has been forbidden under section thirty of this Act by any person entitled to forbid the issue of such a certificate ; or
(d) solemnizes or permits to be solemnized in his office any marriage which is void by virtue of any of the provisions of Part III of this Act ;
shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
(4) No prosecution under this section shall be commenced after the expiration of three years from the commission of the offence.
(5) Any reference in subsection (2) of this section to a registered building shall be construed as including a reference to any chapel registered under section seventy of this Act.

76.-(I) Any person who refuses or without reasonable cause omits to register any marriage which he is required by this Act to register, and any person having the custody of a marriage register book or a certified copy of a marriage register book or part thereof who carelessly loses or injures the said book or copy or carelessly allows the said book or copy to be injured while in his keeping, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.
(2) Where any person who is required under Part IV of this Act to make and deliver to a superintendent registrar a certified copy of entries made in the marriage register book kept by him, or a certificate that no entries have been made therein since the date of the last certified copy, refuses to deliver any such copy or certificate, or fails to deliver any such copy or certificate during any month in which he is required to do so, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
(3) Any registrar who knowingly and wilfully registers any marriage which is void by virtue of any of the provisions of Part III of this Act shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.
(4) The balance of any sum paid or recovered (on account of a fine imposed under, subsection (I) or subsection (2) of this section, after making any such payments in respect of court or police fees as are mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (I) of section five of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914, shall be paid-
(a) case of a fine imposed under subsection (I) of this section, into the Exchequer ; and
(b) in the case of a fine imposed under subsection (2) of this section, to the Registrar General or such other person as may be appointed by the Treasury, for the use of His Majesty.
(5) Subject as may be prescribed, a superintendent registrar may prosecute any person guilty of an offence under either of the said subsections committed within his district, and any costs incurred buy the superintendent registrar in prosecuting such a person, being costs which are not otherwise provided for, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.
(6) No prosecution under subsection (3) of this section shall be commenced after the expiration of three years from the commission of the offence.

77. Any authorised person who refuses or fails to comply with the provisions of this Act or of any regulations made under section seventy-four thereof shall be guilty of an offence against this Act, and, unless the offence is one for which a specific penalty is provided under the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds or, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, and shall upon conviction cease to be an authorised person.

78.-(I) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say-
"authorised chapel" means-
(a) in relation to a chapelry, a chapel of the chapelry in which banns of matrimony could lawfully be published immediately before the passing of the Marriage Act, 1823, or in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of section two of the Marriages Confirmation Act, 1825, or of an authorisation given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823 ;
(b) in relation to an extra-parochial place, a church or chapel of that place in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of section two of the Marriage Confirmation Act, 1825, or of an authorisation given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823, or section twenty-one of this Act ;
(c) in relation to a district specified in a licence granted under section twenty of this Act the chapel in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of that licence ;
"authorised person" has the meaning assigned to section forty-three of this Act ;
"brother" includes a brother of the half blood ;
"clergyman" means a clerk in Holy Orders of Church of England ;
"common licence" has the meaning assigned to it by section five of this Act ;
"ecclesiastical district," in relation to a district other than a parish, means a district specified in a licence granted under section twenty of this Act, a chapelry or an extra-parochial place ;
"infant" means a person under the age of twenty-one years ;
"marriage notice book" has the meaning assigned to it by section twenty-seven of this Act ;
"parish" means an ecclesiastical parish and includes a district constituted under the Church Building Acts, 1818 to 1884, notwithstanding that the district has not become a new parish by virtue of section fourteen of the New Parishes Act, 1856, or section five of the New Parishes Measure, 1943, being a district to which Acts of Parliament relating to the publication of banns of matrimony and the solemnization of marriages were applied by the said Church Building Acts as if the district had been an ancient parish, and the expression "parish church" shall be construed accordingly ;
"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act ;
"registered building" means a building registered under Part III of this Act ;
"registrar" means a registrar of marriages ;
"Registrar General" means the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England ;
"registration district" means the district of a superintendent registrar ;
"sister" includes a sister of the half-blood ;
"special licence" has the meaning assigned to it by section five of this Act ;
"superintendent registrar" means a superintendent registrar of births, deaths and marriages ;
"trustees or governing body," in relation to Roman Catholic registered buildings, includes a bishop or vicar general of the diocese.
(2) Any reference in this Act to the Church of England shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to the Church in Wales.

79.-(I) The Acts specified in Part I of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, and the Measures of the Church Assembly specified in Part II of that Schedule, are hereby repealed to the extent specified in relation thereto in the third column of that Schedule.
(2) Any banns published, licence or certificate issued, notice, consent, authorisation or direction given, Order in Council, rules, order, declaration, return, appointment or entry made, registration effected, caveat entered or other thing done under any enactment repealed by this Act shall, if in force at the commencement of this Act, continue in force, and have effect as if pub1ished, issued, given, made, effected, entered or done under the corresponding provision of this Act.
(3) Where a period of time specified in any enactment repealed by this Act is current at the commencement of this Act, this Act shall have effect as if the corresponding provision thereof had been in force when that period began to run.
(4) Any document referring to an enactment repealed by this Act shall be construed as referring to the corresponding provision of this Act.
(5) Nothing in this Act shall affect any law or custom relating to the marriage of members of the Royal Family.
(6) Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury or any other person by virtue of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act, 1533, to grant special licences to marry at any convenient time or place, or affect the validity of any marriage solemnized on the authority of such a licence.
(7) Nothing, in this Act shall affect the validity of any marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act.
(8) Nothing in this Act shall affect any authority given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823, before the repeal thereof for the publication of banns and the solemnization of marriages in any chapel, or affect the operation of section four of that Act in relation to that chapel.
(9) Nothing in this Act shall affect any right, title, estate interest, will, claim, payment, commutation, composition, discharge, settlement or other thing, or the devolution or distribution of any property which, by virtue of section two of the Deceased Wife’s Sister’s Marriage Act, 1907, was not affected by the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Acts, 1907 to 1931.
(10) Nothing in this Act shall enable any proceedings to be taken in an ecclesiastical court which could not have been taken if this Act had not been passed.
(11) Nothing in this Act shall require any caution or security to be given which would not have required to be given if this Act had not been passed.
(12) Nothing in this Act shall affect any power to extend a Measure of the Church Assembly to the Channel Islands or affect any such Measure which has been so extended.
(13) Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be taken as prejudicing the operation of section thirty-eight of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (which relates to the effect of repeals).

80.-(I) This Act may be cited as the Marriage Act, 1949.
(2) Save as is otherwise expressly provided, this Act shall not extend to Scotland or to Northern Ireland.
(3) The provisions of this Act specified in the Sixth Schedule to this Act shall not extend to Wales or Monmouthshire.
(4) This Act shall come into force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and fifty.

THIRD SCHEDULE.

CAPACITIES REFERRED TO IN SECTION 68 (2) (d) OF THIS ACT.

Part I.

NAVAL FORCES.
Employment with the medical branch of the Royal Navy as an officer.
Member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service.
Member of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, or its reserve.

PART II.

MILITARY FORCES.
Employment with the Royal Army Medical Corps as an officer.
Member of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing. Service, or its reserve.
Member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

PART III.

AIR FORCES.
Employment with the medical branch of the Royal Air Force as an officer.
Member of Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service, or its reserve.
Member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

FOURTH SCHEDULE.

PROVISIONS OF ACT WHICH ARE EXCLUDED OR MODIFIED
IN THEIR APPLICATION TO NAVAL, MILITARY
AND AIR FORCE CHAPELS

PART I.

EXCLUSION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO MARRIAGES ACCORDING T0 THE RITES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Subsection (4) of section six.

Paragraph (b) of subsection (I) of section fifteen.

The proviso to section seventeen.

Section eighteen.

Section twenty.

Subsection (3) of section thirty-five.

The proviso to subsection (I) of section forty-four.

Sections fifty-three to fifty-seven, fifty-nine and sixty, so far as those sections relate to the registration of marriages by clergymen and to the duties of incumbents in relation to marriage register books.

PART II.

MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO MARRIAGES ACCORDING TO THE RITES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Subsection (I) of section six shall apply as if the chapel were the parish church of the parish in which the chapel is situated.

Subsection (3) of section seven shall apply as if for the reference to the parochial church council there were substituted, in relation to a naval chapel, a reference to the Admiralty and, in relation to any other chapel, a reference to a Secretary of State.

Section eight shall apply as if it required the notice in writing mentioned therein to include a statement that one at least of the persons to be married is a qualified person within the meaning of Part V of this Act, and to specify the person so qualified and the nature of his qualification.
Paragraph (a) of subsection (i) of section fifteen shall apply as if the chapel were the parish church of the parish in which the chapel is situated.
Subsection (I) of section sixteen shall apply as if it required the oath, which is to be taken thereunder, to include a statement that one at least of the persons to be married is a qualified person within the meaning of Part V of this Act and to specify the person so qualified and the nature of his qualification.
Subsection (3) of section twenty-seven shall apply as if it required the notice of marriage to include a statement that one at least of the persons to be married is a qualified person within the meaning of Part V of this Act and to specify the person so qualified and the nature of his qualification.
Section fifty shall apply as if for the reference to the officiating clergyman there were substituted a reference to the clergyman appointed under section sixty-nine of this Act for the purpose of registering marriages, in whose presence the marriage is solemnized.

PART III.

OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO MARRIAGES OTHERWISE THAN ACCORDING TO THE RITES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

The proviso to section seventeen.
The proviso subsection (2) of section twenty-six.
Section forty-one.
Section forty-two.
Proviso to subsection (I) of section forty-four.

PART IV.

MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO MARRIAGES OTHERWISE THAN ACCORDING TO THE RITES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Subsection (3) of section twenty-seven shall apply as if it required the notice of marriage to include a statement that one at least of the persons to be married is a qualified person within the meaning of Part V of this Act and to specify the person so qualified and the nature of his qualification :
Sections forty-three, forty-four and fifty-four shall apply as if for any reference to the trustees or governing body of a building there were substituted a reference to the Admiralty or any person authorised by them, the case of a naval chapel, and a reference to a Secretary of State or any person authorised by him, in the case of any other chapel.