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14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- | COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

No. 4. (MALTA.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

1

MY LORD,

Royal Courts of Justice, We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Wingfield's

February 9, 1892, letter of the 15th December last, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to inform us that, in view of the opinions expressed by the Crown Advocate of Malta of the invalidity of marriages celebrated in Malta by clergy of the Church of England, and by Wesleyan and Presbyterian ministers, between persons neither of whom were Roman- Catholics, or between persons one of whom was a Roman Catholic, and of proposed legislation in Malta on the subject of such marriages, and of protests against such legislation by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by the representatives of various Nonconformist religious bodies, who maintained the validity of the marriages in question, your Lordship, in accordance with the opinion of the Lord Chancellor, proposed that the question of the validity of such marriages under the existing luw should be referred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, under Section 4 of 3 & 4 William IV.

c. 41.

That Mr. Wingfield was to enclose copies of cases which had been prepared under your Lordship's instructions by Dr. Tristram, Q.C., and the Crown Advocate of Malta respectively, for the consideration of the Judicial Committee.

That, as there appeared to be no exact precedent for such a reference, your Lordship desired our advice as to the steps to be taken for bringing the matter before the Judicial Committee.

We have taken the matter into our consideration, and, in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to

Report

That we advise that the following steps be taken in order that the question of the validity of such marriages under the existing law may be referred to the Judicial Com- mittee, in accordance with the opinion of the Lord Chancellor :

1st. That Dr. Tristram and the Crown Advocate of Malta be instructed by your Lordship to furnish the Colonial Office with a statement of the proofs upon which they intend to rely in support of their respective cases.

2nd. That the' cases, when finally settled, together with the statements of the proofs intended to be relied upon, be referred by an Order of Her Majesty in Council to the Judicial Committee, under Section 4 of 3 & 4 William IV. c. 41, for hearing counsel thereon, with directions to their Lordships to order the production of all such proofs as their Lordships may deem to be necessary for the due consideration of the several ques- tions raised by the said cases, and to report their opinion upon such questions to ller Majesty in Council.

In our opinion the report of the Judicial Committee on such questions might be held by the judges of the Maltese Courts not to have the effect of a judgment of a Final Court of Appeal upon them unless the questions were raised by petitions filed by parties interested in establishing the validity of the disputed marriages,

We are, however, informed that it would be extremely difficult for the Colonial Office

to induce any parties to such marriages, or parties pecuniarily interested in establishing the validity of such marriages, to becoine petitioners for the purpose of raising the questions at issue.

In order to make the report of the Judicial Committee, if favourable to the validity of all or any of such marriages, binding on the Maltese Courts, it might be necessary that such report should be confirmed by an Act of the Imperial Parliament.

The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford,

&c.

&c.

&c.

We have, &c.

(Signed)

RICHARD E. WEBSTER.

EDWARD CLARKE.

THOMAS H. TRISTRAM.

O 70451.-2. 25.-2/98.