TNAG-0189-FCO40-225-Chinese-marriages-in-Hong-Kong-1969 — Page 42

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years of age in the case of men and 18 in the case of women. The Sub-Committee feels that neither of these systems are necessarily appropriate as they stand for Hong Kong, though it feels that the legislature ought to provide for the exercise of some form of control by parents or guardians (but no others) in the case of marriages between persons of under 18 or perhaps even under 20, though this will clearly be related to the minimum age of marriage ultimately selected by the legislature. However, the Sub- Committee feels strongly that this form of parental control should not be absolute, and it recommends that in proper cases it should be possible for the requirement for parental consent to be dispensed with upon cause being shown to a judge in chambers. This should prevent abuses which do undoubtedly sometimes occur when children who are, in the modern urban environment of Hong Kong, as a matter of fact both morally and economically independent of their parents are nonetheless virtually held to ransom as valuable assets before their parents give consent to their marriage. Even if no express provision is made in the proposed legislation for a new form of parental control, the Sub-Committee feels that such dis- pensation should be made possible with relation to existing parental control, notwithstanding any custom to the contrary.

26. A further provision which the Sub-Committee feels will prove necessary is that intending spouses should be required to make a statutory declaration to the effect that they are not already lawfully married. This would seem of particular importance in the present situation where there are a substantial number of

persons living in the Colony whose spouses may continue to live in China. The Sub-Committee notes that the Report makes no recommendation with regard to the application of the criminal law of bigamy to the proposed Chinese marriage system, and the Sub-Committee would advise that no steps be taken in that direction. At the same time, it would seem that some kind of sanction is required for ensuring that bigamous marriages are not easily contracted, and it would seem that the statutory declaration would be the most appropriate and fair way of providing such a sanction. In form it would have to make it quite clear that all previous marriages must be declared, together with the means and evidence of their lawful dissolution.

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