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LAW, ORDER AND RECORDS
249 patents were registered during the year as compared with 163 in 1963.
During the year the court made 10 receiving orders, one order for the administration in bankruptcy of the estates of deceased debtors, and nine orders for the compulsory winding up of companies. These cases represent only a small fraction of the number of business failures. Few Chinese businessmen care to submit debtors' petitions and creditors' petitions are kept down partly because creditors are disinclined to incur costs incidental to a petition, and partly because the court has power to dismiss a petition where it is not satisfied that the assets are sufficient to pay a 15 per cent dividend to un- secured creditors. As for companies, business failures are usually followed by voluntary liquidations, or the company is simply left to be struck off the register. During the year 60 companies were dissolved by voluntary liquidation and 79 by being struck off the register.
MARRIAGES
All marriages, except non-Christian customary marriages, are governed by the Marriage Ordinance. Under this, notice of an intended marriage must be given to the Registrar at least 15 clear days before the date of the marriage. The Registrar has discretion to reduce this period in special circumstances, and in exceptional circumstances the Governor may grant a special licence dispensing with notice altogether. Marriages may take place either at places of public worship licensed for the celebration of marriages or at a marriage registry. All marriage records are maintained at the principal marriage registry at the City Hall. During the year 11,578 marriages were performed in the marriage registries and sub- registries, and 1,409 at licensed places of worship. The total was 1,189 more than in 1963.
The Marriage Ordinance does not apply to non-Christian cus- tomary marriages duly celebrated according to the personal law and religion of the parties, and such marriages do not require to be registered. No statistics of such marriages are therefore available, but it is thought that there are still as many unregistered marriages as there are registered ones. The position with regard to unregistered marriages is far from satisfactory. The great majority are of doubtful validity, since they are contracted not in accordance with the full