CO882-(3-4) — Page 230

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PUR

1 T

RECORD OFFICE

Reference

C.O.

882

3

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE

BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Preliminaries to Marriage

e of imen

Lage

VII Whenever, after this Ordinance takes effect, any

persons desire to to the marry, one of the parties to the intended marriage shall give notice thereof Registrar-General in the following form

Notice of Marriage

ses to be filed and

e made by the Itrar-General.

a of notice to be ied gratis.

trar-fieneral may certificate.

notice the

nor may grant

ace.

rriage do not lace in three

is fresh notice

given.

al licence in case ergency.

vit before issue -tificate or

:6.

ent of parents or

To the Registrar-Cieneral of Hong Kong.

I hereby give you notice that a marriage is intended to be had, within three months from the date hereof, between me and the other party herein named,

Name

Condition

Rink

Age

Dwelling Place.

Profession

Consent, if any, by whom given

Name of Bridegrooth

Name of Bride

Bachlor or Widower

Spinster or Widow

Witness my hand this

day of

187

(Signature of the party giving the notice.)

Every such notice shall be signed by the party giving notice.

IX. The Registrar-General shall file every such notice in his office; he shall, as heretofore, exhibit one copy of such notice at the Supreme Court-house, and may, if he thinks fit, exhibit copies in other conspicuous places open to the public, and shall keep every such copy so exhibited until he issue a certificate as hereinafter mentioned, or until the three months expire; he shall also enter a copy of the said notice with the date of such entry in a book to be called the "Marriage Notice Book," and shall allow any person to inspect such book during office hours without fee.

X. The Registrar-General shall supply forms of notice gratuitously to persons applying for the same.

XI. At any time not more than three months nor (except when the Governor grants a licence) less than fiteen days after the giving of such notice, the Registrar- General shall, on the request of either of the parties, issue a certificate in the Form (A) in the Schedule hereto.

XII. The Governor may, at any time after a party has given notice as afore- said, grant a licence in the Form (B) in the Schedule hereto, authorising the Registrar-General to issue his certificate on or after any day named in such

licence.

XIII. If the marriage do not take place within three months after giving the above notice the notice given, and all proceedings thereupon, shall be utterly void, and fresh notice will be required before any marriage can be had between the parties.

XIV. The Governor may, when he sees fit, grant a special licence in the Form (C) in the Schedule hereto, dispensing with notice as aforesaid, or with the certificate of the Registrar-General, or with both, and authorising the celebration of a marriage between the parties named at a place and at a time specified in the licence.

The Governor may, when he sees fit, grant such licence without payment of any fee, or on payment of such reduced fee as under the special circumstances of the case he thinks sufficient.

XV. Before the Registrar-General issues any certificate, and before the Governor grants any licence, one of the parties to the intended marriage shall appear personally before the Registrar-General and make affidavit (which the Registrar-General is hereby authorised to take) that he or she believes that there is not any impediment of kindred or alliance, or any other lawful hindrance, to the marriage, and either that the consent of the parties required by law to consent to the marriage has been obtained, or that no such consent is required.

XVI. If either party to the intended marriage, not being a widower or a dians to marriage widow, is under 21 years of age, the written consent of the father, or (if he be dead or non compos mentis) of the mother, or (if both be dead or non compotes mentis)

inors.

of the lawful guardian of such party, must be produced to the Registrar-General before he issues a certificate, or to the Governor before he grants a licence.

guardian, Registrar- General may consent.

XVII. If there be no parent or guardian of such party residing in the Colony If no parent or and capable of consenting, the Registrar-General may give his consent in writing to the marriage, if upon inquiry the marriage appear to him to be proper, and such consent shall be as effectual as if the father or mother or guardian had consented.

XVIII. Any person whose consent is required as aforesaid may forbid the issue Issue of certificate

of the Registrar-General's certificate by writing the word "forbidden" opposite the may be forbidden. entry in the marriage notice book, and by signing his name and the character in which he forbids the issue; and if the issue of any certificate be so forbidden, the notice, and all proceedings thereupon, shall be void.

right to forbid.

XIX. If either of the parties to the intended marriage allege that the person The Registrar-General forbidding the issue is not authorized by law so to do, the Registrar-General shall may inquire into the inquire into the matter, and if he be satisfied that the person is not so authorized, he may proceed to issue the certificate in due course without reckoning the time that has elapsed since the issue was forbidden.

For the purposes of such inquiry, or of any inquiry under Section XVII, the Registrar-General may administer an oath to any person.

XX. If the Registrar-General considers that the person forbidding the issue is Appeal to the authorized so to do, either of the parties to the intended marriage may appeal by Supreme Court. petition to the Supreme Court, and the Court, or any Judge thereof, may hear and determine the matter of the petition in a summary way.

Such determination shall be final; and the Registrar-General shall proceed in accordance therewith, without reckoning the time that has elapsed since the issue was forbidden.

XXI. If any person wilfully makes any false statement in any affidavit as Penalty for false aforesaid, or wilfully makes on oath any false statement or gives any

false statement. answer in any inquiry by the Registrar-General, he shall, on conviction before the Supreme Court, be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years with or without hard labour.

Celebration of Marriage.

XXII. Marriages may hereafter be celebrated in any licensed place of worship Marriage in licensed by any competent Minister of the Church, denomination, or body to which such places of worship. place of worship belongs, and according to the rites or usages of marriage observed

in such Church, denomination, or body, provided that the marriage be celebrated with open doors, and (except in case of a special licence), between the hours of 6 o'clock in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, and in the presence of two or more witnesses besides the officiating Minister.

No Minister shall celebrate any marriage until the parties deliver to him the Registrar-General's certificate or the Governor's special licence.

XXIII. The Registrar-General shall canse to be prepared and delivered to the Marriage certificates, several licensed places of worship books of marriage certificates in duplicate and with butts in the form in the schedule hereto. The certificate shall be signed in duplicate by the officiating Minister, by the parties, and by two or more witnesses to the marriage.

The Minister shall deliver one certificate to the parties, immediately after the marriage, and shall transmit the other to the Registrar-General within seven days thereafter, and the Registrar-General shall file the same in his office.

The officiating Minister shall enter in the butt the names of the parties and the date of the marriage.

XXIV. After the issue of a certificate by the Registrar-General, the parties Mariage before she may, if they think fit, contract a marriage before the Registrar-General, in the Registrar-General, presence of two or more witnesses, in the Registrar-General's office, with open doors, and (except in case of a special licence), between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and in the following manner :-

The Registrar-General shall first address the parties to the following effect:- "Know ye, A. B. and C. D., that by the public taking of each other as man and wife in my presence and in the presence of the persons now here, and by the subsequent attestation thereof by signing your names to that effect, you become legally married to each other although no other rite of a civil or religious nature shall take place; and know ye further that this marriage cannot be dissolved during your lifetime, except by a vid judgment of divorce, and that if either of