1. Harriages performed in Stanley Interment Camp.
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Marriages performed by priests in episcopally ordained orders whether Church of England or Roman Catholic are valid at Common Law, but since 1753 the law of marriage in England has been governed by statute, and except in ships on the High Seas or in Colonies where the Common Law runs, such marriages are not valid. The law of Hong Kong is the law of England as it existed on the 3rd day of April, 1843, except in so far as such laws are inapplicable to the local circumstances of the Colony or its inhabitants, and except so far as they have been modified by laws passed by the local legislature.
The Karriage Ordinance of Hong Kong provides the form for the celebration of marriages within the Colony and declares that a marriage shall be null and void if the parties knowingly and wilfully acquiesce in its
celebration in any place other than the office of the Registrar of Marriages or a licensed place of worship (except when authorised by special licence)...or without a certificate of notice or licence duly issued. Harriages performed in the Camp did not comply with the Ordinance and, unless the laws of Hong Kong were suspended and the Common Law in some way revived, the marriages are void. It may be that if there is no practical legal way of performing the marriage rite, a ceremony good at Common Law is valid, but the point is one of too great concern to the parties to leave anything to chance. The only safe course is to legislate, to declare the marriage valid, and put the watter beyond any doubt.
Although it seems probable that marriages contracted in Atanley Camp are not valid it is considered thet validating legislation can avait the restoration of Civil Government. It would then be for the Hong Kong Government to pass an Ordinance, providing inter alia that for "the avoidance of doubts that" the marriages in question "are, and have been since their celebration, as valid as they would have been if" the prescribed formalities had beez complied with; or that they "shall not be deemed to be, or to have been, invalid by reason only that" certain formalities were not complied with.
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