CO129-594-7 Proposed legislation to regularise registration of births- marriages and deaths in Stanley internment camp during... 16-10-1945 - 19-12-1946 — Page 14

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that it is important that

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make spresentations.

before them Undriann

is passed

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of them have remarried they will no doud object.

14

absolute is granted as a matter of course and by

validating such a decree we should merely prevent a

was in a sense a mer

challenge to what a pure formality.

In my view the draft is certainly not strong

enough in merely suggesting that the parties should be

approached. I think the Governor should be requested to tell them (those who obtain decrees nisi as well as

those who obtain decrees absolute) that the Government

is advised that the validity of the decrees is very

doubtful and that in view of this the Government does

not feel that it would be appropriate to introduce

validating legislation and the parties will no doubt

consider whether they should take any further steps in the matter. This will gui

a chaman for reprantation.

I also feel very doubtful about the

concluding three lines of Clause 2 of the draft

Ordinance, which provides that the Ordinance shall not

render valid any marriage either of the parties to

which has subsequently lawfully inter-married with

any other person. This would seem to assume that a

person married in the camp is entitled to disregard the marriage, whereas there is at least something to

be said for the view that the marriage was valid at

common law, though I see that when I looked into the

question last December I expressed the view that they

were probably not valid. The purpose of the

Ordinance will be to remove doubt, and the passage in

Clause 2 to which I have referred appears to me to

come near to legalising bigamy.

The Home Office not infrequently issue

provisional orders which are confirmed by Parliament validating marriages the validity of which is doubtful

owing to the place of celebration or other formalities,

and I suggest that some of these orders should be

looked up to see what form they take. They are schedule

Packameni

Exc

Before we go any further, I should like to

add/