LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.
Draft Bills.
No. S 309.-The following bills are published for general
information :—
[No. 35-8.7.32.-1.]
C.S.O. 1/5658/31.
Short title.
Substitution for ss. 37
and 38 of Ordinance No. 7 of 1875.
Application of Ordin-
ance.
Marriages under this Ordinance
are
Christian or equivalent thereto.
A BILL
INTITULED
An Ordinance to amend the Marriage Ordinance, 1875.
Be it enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:-
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Marriage Amend- ment Ordinance, 1932.
2. Section 37 and 38 of the Marriage Ordinance, 1875 are repealed and the following new sections are substituted :-
37.-(1) This Ordinance shall apply to all marriages cele- brated in the Colony except non-Christian customary marriages duly celebrated according to the personal law and region of the parties.
(2) The parties to any such customary marriage may, however, if they so desire and provided they have not living any other undivorced spouse, contract with each other a marriage under this Ordinance. In such cases the marriage under this Ordinance shall not be deemed to prejudice the previous customary marriage.
38. Every marriage under this Ordinance shall be a Christian marriage or the civil equivalent of a Christian marriage.
Objects and Reasons.
1. Section 37 of the principal Ordinance permitted Chinese persons who had already contracted a customary marriage to contract a registered marriage under the Ordinance.
2. Section 38, whilst containing saving as to section 37, provided that the Ordinance should apply to all marriages where neither of the parties has living an undivorced husband or wife except marriages between persons neither of whou professes the Christian religion duly celebrated according to the personal law and religion of the parties.
3. This Ordinance repeals both sections and substitutes new sections which whilst not requiring the general registration of customary marriages yet permits the parties to such marriages to contract a marriage under the Ordinance without prejudice to the previous customary marriage and which de- clare that every marriage under the principal Ordinance shall be a Christian marriage or the equivalent of a Christian marriage.
July, 1932.
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.