COPY.
ENCLOSURE
Minute by the Attorney General.
196
VLG 2 M 38
Hon. Colonial Secretary.
The point seems to be this:- Can a minister
properly perform a marriage at the United States Consulate
in Hong-Kong between an American Citizen and a bride who is
a widow,her deceased husband being an Englishman (and her
nationality, therefore, being English) without the preliminary requirements' of the local law regarding marriages being com -
plied with.
The local Ordinance, 14 of 1875,requires the
Registrar General's Certificate or the Governor's Special
Licence to be obtained, before a marriage takes place, and
Section 22 enacts as follows:-
"No minister shall celebrate any marriage un -
til the parties deliver to him the Registrar General's Cer-
tificate or the Governor's Special Licence."
Section 31 makes it a misdemeanour
for a
minister to wilfully celebrate a marriage knowing that any
provision of this Ordinance has not been complied with.
The U. S. Consul and the minister who cele-
brated the marriage at the Consulate, both appear to consi-
der the requirements of the local Ordinance mentioned do
not apply to the case of a marriage at the U. S. Consulate in
Hong Kong