01
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Relict against penalties applicable to
ministers.
Certificate
minister.
2.
6. No minister who has complied with section 7 of this Ordinance shall be liable to any penalties under the principa Ordinance in respect of any matter referred to in section 3 of this Ordinance and no proceedings shall be taken without the consent of the Attorney General against a minister who has not so complied in respect of a marriage to which this Ordinance applies.
7. Every minister who has officiated at a marriage to which by officiating this Ordinance applies and who has not already given the parties a certificate in Form No. 5 in the Schedule to the principal Ordinance shall, at the request of either party, give such a certificate: Provided that if such minister satisfies the Registrar that he is unable to give such a certificate because he is unable to secure the signature of the two witnesses to the marriage and has no certificate with their signature in his possession or because he is unable to obtain information necessary to enable him to complete the certificate, it shall suffice if the officiating minister, with the consent of the Registrar, gives a certificate which, in lieu of being signed by two witnesses of the marriage, states the names of two such witnesses and gives such information as he and the parties or either of them are able to supply.
Effect of
certificate of
marriage issued by officiating minister.
Duties of
the
8. A certificate in the form first referred to in section 7 of this Ordinance, whether given before or after the commencement of this Ordinance and a certificate in the form subsequently referred to in the said section if countersigned by the Registrar shall, if given in respect of a marriage to which this Ordinance applies, be admissible as evidence of the marriage to which the same relates in any court or before any person having by law or by consent of parties authority to receive evidence.
9.
or may
(1) The Registrar shall collect and preserve in a register the Registrar. in a convenient form such information in relation to marriages to
which this Ordinance applies as has already been subsequently be, furnished to him, and shall for a fee of five dollars supply any person requiring it with the information in his possession regarding a particular marriage.
Regulations.
(2) The Registrar shall enter in a convenient place in such register the fact of his consent in any particular case to the form of certificate secondly referred to in section 7, and shall note on such certificate that his consent was obtained and sign the
same.
10. The Governor in Council may make regulations prescrib- ing-
(a) rules, forms and fees for any application by an officiating minister for the Registrar's consent under section 7 of this Ordinance and for information under section 9;
(b) for further cases in which an officiating minister should be relieved from penalties notwithstanding that he has been unable to give any certificate under section 7;
(c) generally for carrying this Ordinance into effect.
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Objects and Reasons.
The Marriage Ordinance, 1875, section 3, provides that the Governor may license any place of public worship to be a place for the celebration of marriage and by section 5, one of the parties to any intended marriage is requested to give notice thereof to the Registrar in a prescribed form. Under section 8, the Registrar issues a certificate to the effect that such notice has been duly entered in the marriage book and by section 10, the proceedings are void if the marriage does not take place within three months after giving of such notice. Prior to the issue of the Registrar's certificate, an affidavit of no impediment to the marriage is also required under section 12.
2.
The above provisions may, to some extent, be derogated from if the special licence of the Governor is obtained, but in any event, a party under 16 cannot lawfully marry and a party between 16 and 21 requires the consent of parent or guardian, and, failing such consent, the consent of the Registrar. See sections 12A to 14 inclusive and section 22.
3.
Under section 19, marriages may be celebrated in any licensed place of worship by a competent minister, but no marriage shall be celebrated by such minister without the Registrar's certificate or the Governor's special licence. Penalties prescribed by section 29.
are
Under section 20, books of marriage certificates are issued to the several licensed places of worship and the certificate must be signed in duplicate by the parties, the officiating minister and two witnesses. One certificate is handed to the parties and the other transmitted by the officiating minister to the Registrar for filing. Under section 21, if the parties are married in the Registry, the same procedure is followed save that the copy is retained by the Registrar and filed.
Under section 24, such certificate as aforesaid or a certified copy is admissible as evidence of the marriage. Finally, by section 26-
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(1) No marriage shall be valid which would be null and void on the ground of kindred or affinity in England or Wales. (2) A marriage shall be null and void if both 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 a special licence), or under a false name or without a certificate of notice or licence duly issued, or by a person not being a competent minister or the Registrar of Marriages or his deputy, or if either party to the marriage is at the time of its celebration under the age of sixteen
years.
(3) But no marriage shall, after celebration, be deemed invalid by reason that any provision of this Ordinance, other than the foregoing, has not been complied with ".
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