File No. 9143/2.
The British Ambassador to
the Acting Secretary of State
.
British
Embassy,
Intervale, N.
H.
,
October 10,
1907
.
No. 222.]
Sir: In order the better to regulate and insure
the validity of marriages of British subjects with foreigners, an act of
Parliament, [Page 539] cited as “The
marriage with foreigners act, 1906,” has been passed enabling His
Majesty’s Government to conclude agreements with foreign countries by
which persons subject to the marriage laws of those countries who
propose to marry British subjects in the United Kingdom shall produce a
certificate, issued by the proper officers of their country, stating
that after proper notice has been given no impediment, according to the
laws of that country, exists to the marriage.
A copy of this act is inclosed herewith.
An agreement was concluded with the French Government in 1904 in regard
to the form of the certificate which French consuls should issue in
cases of marriages in the United Kingdom between British subjects and
French citizens.
I have the honor to transmit a copy of the form then adopted and in
accordance with instructions received from His Majesty’s principal
secretary of state for foreign affairs to inquire whether the United
States Government are willing to conclude an agreement with His
Majesty’s Government similar to that concluded with the French
Government, fulfilling the requirements of article 2 of the act.
Sir Edward Grey also desires me to call your attention to article 1, by
which a British subject who desires to be married in a foreign country
to a foreigner according to the lex loci may obtain a similar
certificate issued by a proper British officer, and to article 5 in
regard to the application of this act to Scotland.
In due course instructions will be issued to the registrars in the United
Kingdom and to the proper marriage officers abroad in regard to the
certificate contemplated in article 1 (I) of the act.
The form of the certificate is under the consideration of the home
office.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
Chapter 40.—An act to amend the law with
respect to marriages between British subjects and foreigners. (29th
November, 1906.)
Be it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the
advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, and
Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
- 1.
- (1) Any British subject who desires to be married in a
foreign country and to a foreigner according to the law of
that country may, if it is desired for the purpose of
complying with the requirement of the law of that country,
to obtain the certificate hereinafter mentioned, give notice
of the marriage, if resident in the United Kingdom, to the
registrar, and if resident abroad, to the marriage officer,
and apply to the registrar or officer for a certificate that
after proper notices have been given no legal impediment to
the marriage has been shown to the registrar or officer to
exist, and the registrar or officer shall, after the
conditions set out in the schedule to this act have been
complied with, give the certificate applied for, unless the
certificate is forbidden or a caveat is in operation as
provided in that schedule, or some legal impediment to the
marriage is shown to the registrar or officer to
exist.
- (2) If a person: (a) Knowingly and
willfully makes a false oath or signs a false notice of
marriage for the purpose of a certificate under this
section; or (b) forbids the granting
of a certificate under this section by falsely representing
himself to be a person who is authorized to forbid the
certificate, knowing that representation to be false, that
person shall be guilty of perjury, and if the offense is
committed abroad may be tried in any county or place in the
United Kingdom in which the offender may be, and dealt with
in the same manner in all respects as if the offense had
been committed in that county or place.
- (3) If any person enters a caveat on grounds which the
registrar or officer or, in case of appeal, the
registrar-general declares to be frivolous, that person
shall be liable to pay as a debt to the applicant for the
certificate such sum as the registrar or officer or, in the
case of appeal, the registrar-general considers to be proper
compensation for the damage caused to the applicant by the
entering of the caveat.
- (4) Such fees may be charged in respect of any notice of
an intended marriage or any application for or grant of a
certificate, or the entering of a caveat under this section
as may be fixed, as respects certificates to be granted by
or caveats entered with registrars, by the
registrar-general, with the consent of His Majesty in
council, and, as respects certificates to be granted by or
caveats entered with a marriage officer, as may be fixed by
order under the consular salaries and fees act, 1891.
- 2.
- (1) Where arrangements have been made to the satisfaction
of His Majesty with any foreign country for the issue by the
proper officers of that country, in the case of persons
subject to the marriage law of that country proposing to
marry British subjects in the United Kingdom, of
certificates that after proper notices have been given no
impediment according to the law of that country has been
shown to exist to the marriage, His Majesty may, by order in
council, make regulations: (a)
Requiring any person, subject to the marriage law of that
foreign country, who is to be married to a British subject
in the United Kingdom, to give notice of the fact that he is
subject to the marriage law of that country to the person by
or in the presence of whom the marriage is to be solemnized;
and (b) forbidding any person to whom
such a notice is given to solemnize the marriage or to allow
it to be solemnized until such a certificate as aforesaid is
produced to him.
- (2) If any person knowingly acts in contravention of, or
fails to comply with, any such regulation, he shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine not
exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term
not exceeding one year.
- (3) Nothing in this section shall be taken to relate or
have any reference to any marriages between two persons
professing the Jewish religion, solemnized according to the
usages of the Jews in the presence of the secretary of a
synagogue authorized by either the births and deaths
registration act, 1836, or the marriages (Ireland) act,
1844, or by the marriage and registration act, 1856, to
register such marriage, or of a deputy appointed by such
secretary by writing under his hand, and approved by the
president for the time of the London committee of deputies
of the British Jews by writing under his hand.
- 3.
- His Majesty may by order in council make general
regulations prescribing the forms to be used under this act
and making such other provisions as seem necessary or
expedient for the purposes of this act, and may by order in
council revoke, alter, or add to any order in council made
under this act.
- 4.
- In this act, unless the context otherwise requires: The
expressions “registrar-general” and “registrar” mean,
respectively, the registrar-general within the meaning of
the births and deaths registration act, 1836, and a
superintendent registrar of marriages within the meaning of
the marriage act, 1836; and the expression “marriage
officer” means a marriage officer for the time being under
the foreign marriage act, 1892, and includes any person for
the time being empowered to register a marriage under
section eighteen of that act.
- 5.
- In the application of this act to Scotland:
- (1)
- References to the forbidding of a certificate
shall not apply.
- (2)
- A reference to a caveat shall be construed as a
reference to an objection, and the provisions
respecting the entry of a caveat on frivolous
grounds shall not apply.
- (3)
- The expressions “registrar-general” and
“registrar” mean, respectively, the
registrar-general of births, deaths, and marriages
in Scotland, and the registrar of births, deaths,
and marriages for a parish or district under the
registration of births, deaths, and marriages
(Scotland) act, 1854, and the acts amending that
act.
- (4)
- Paragraph (a) of subsection
one of section two shall be read as if the following
words were inserted after the word “solemnized,”
namely, “or to any registrar, law agent, or other
person whom he desires to draw up any declaration of
irregular marriage between him and a British
subject;” and paragraph (b)
of the same subsection shall be read as if the
following words were inserted after the word
“solemnized,” namely, “or to aid in effecting the
said irregular marriage.”
- (5)
- The duly appointed minister of a synagogue shall
be substituted in subsection (3) of section two for
the secretary of the synagogue or deputy as
described in that subsection.
- 6.
- In the application of this act to Ireland, the expressions
“registrar-general” and “registrar” mean, respectively, the
registrar-general and registrar within the meaning of the
marriages (Ireland) act, 1844.
- 7.
- This act may be cited as the mariage with foreigners act,
1906.
