1901_MARRIAGE_ORDINANCE__1875 — Page 1

No. 7.] THE ORDINANCES OF HONGKONG : [A.D. 1875.

ORDINANCE No. 7 OF 1875.

346

Vide also Ordce. No. 3 of 1893, Ordce. No. 15 of 1902 and Ordinance No. 14 of 1903.

Ordinance No. 14 of 1875, with Ordinance No. 14 of 1896 incorporated.

See also Ordinance No. 3 of 1893.

Amended by 20 of 1910.

G. N. 488/02

Short title.

Registrar of Marriages and Deputy Registrars.

Licensing of places of worship.

Notification of licence.

Giving of notice of intended marriage.

First Schedule: Form No. 1.

Filing and exhibition of notice and entry in Marriage Notice Book.

AN ORDINANCE to provide a General Register of Marriages celebrated in the Colony.

[1st March, 1876.]

WHEREAS it is expedient that marriages celebrated in the Colony should be systematically recorded in one general register : BE it therefore enacted by the Governor of Hongkong, with the advice of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows:

Amendment

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Marriage Ordinance, 1875.

Registrar of Marriages, etc.

2.-(1.) The Registrar General shall be Registrar of Marriages, and, to assist him, the Governor may appoint one or more Deputy Registrars, and such deputies may celebrate marriages, and may exercise all the other powers and perform all the duties conferred upon the Registrar General by this Ordinance.

(2.) All acts done by a deputy shall be as valid as if done by the Registrar General.

3. The Governor may license any place of public worship to be a place for the celebration of marriages, and may at any time cancel any such licence.

4. Whenever the Governor grants or cancels any such licence, the Registrar General shall give public notice thereof in The Gazette.

Preliminaries to Marriage.

5.-(1.) Whenever, after the commencement of this Ordinance, any persons desire to marry, one of the parties to the intended marriage shall give notice thereof to the Registrar General in Form No. 1 in the First Schedule to this Ordinance.

(2.) Every such notice shall be signed by the party giving the notice.

6.-(1.) The Registrar General shall file every such notice in his office.

(2.) He shall, as heretofore, exhibit one copy of such notice at the Registrar's Office, 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 issues a certificate as hereinafter mentioned or until the three months expire.

(3.) 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.

7. The Registrar General shall, upon payment of the prescribed fee, issue a certificate of the notice having been given.

8. At any time after the expiration of not less than three months from the date of the notice, the Registrar General or Deputy Registrar may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, issue a certificate that the marriage may be solemnized.

9. The Registrar General or Deputy Registrar shall not issue the certificate aforesaid, unless the parties to the intended marriage have complied with the requirements of this Ordinance, and shall not issue such certificate on or after the day fixed for the celebration of the marriage.

10. If the notice is not followed by the celebration of the marriage, the person giving the notice may require the Registrar General to cancel the proceedings, and the Registrar General shall cancel the same if the required fee is paid.

11.-(1.) The certificate of the Registrar General or Deputy Registrar shall be in the Form No. 2 in the First Schedule to this Ordinance, and shall be issued with notice of the intended marriage, or with banns of marriage, or without either, as the case may be, and the parties may thereupon be married.

(2.) The certificate shall be issued upon payment of the prescribed fee, and a special certificate may be issued upon payment of an additional fee.

12. Before the marriage is solemnized, one of the parties thereto shall make an affidavit or declaration before the Registrar General or Deputy Registrar, or the Governor, that he or she believes that there is no impediment to the marriage by reason of consanguinity or any other lawful cause, and that the consent of the parents or guardians of the parties, if required, has been obtained.

13. If either of the parties to the intended marriage is a minor, or is a widow, or widower, the affidavit or declaration shall state the name of the father, or mother, or guardian, of such party, and if such father, or mother, or guardian, is dead, the affidavit or declaration must be made by the surviving parent, or by some other person having knowledge of the fact, or to the satisfaction of the Registrar General or Deputy Registrar.

14. If ...