for wives and the 25-29 group most popular for husbands. In England and Wales the 20-24 age group is the most popular for both husbands and wives.
165. The percentage of girls marrying under 21 remained about the same as last year at slightly over 18%. The numbers of girls marrying under 21 during the past ten years were as follows:
% of all marriages under the Ordinance
1963-64
1964-65
1965-66 ...
1966-67 ... 1967-68. 1968-69 1969-70
U
1970-71
•
1971-72 ...
1972-73 ...
...
...
Number
2,488
19.59
...
2,733
21.68
...
...
3,511
22.60
4,562
25.56
4,094
24.23
...
4,769
23.27
4,139
20.36
+
3,766
18.87
5,327
18.07
...
4,829
18.26
166. Many of the older husbands and wives had already been married before by customary ceremonies. Such marriages are expressly authorized by section 38 of the Ordinance, which provides that the parties to a customary marriage celebrated before 7th October 1971 may, if they so desire and provided they have not living any other un- divorced spouse, contract with each other a marriage under the Ordin- ance, and that this shall not be deemed to prejudice the previous customary marriage. There are two reasons why people already married by a Chinese customary ceremony remarry under the Ordinance. Either they have become Christians and wish to be formally remarried in their Church for religious reasons; or more usually not having a marriage certificate that is acceptable to public authorities, local or foreign, they marry in a Registry in order to obtain an official marriage certificate that will be accepted everywhere as evidence of the marriage. Although under the Marriage Reform Ordinance Chinese customary and modern marriages celebrated in Hong Kong are declared or deemed to be valid and may be post-registered by the Registrar of Marriages, many who lack sufficient evidence to support an application for registration or whose marriage was celebrated outside the Colony are still remarrying under the Marriage Ordinance. During 1972-73, 2,662 marriages took place between parties already married by custom- ary ceremonies of one kind or another. 12 of these remarriages were performed at licensed places of worship, the remainder at the Registries.
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