HC Deb 16 June 1890 vol 345 cc1041-2
MR. SUMMERS

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is understood that mixed marriages that have taken place in Malta otherwise than in accordance with the rites of the Roman Catholic Church will, by the intended project of law, be declared valid only in cases, where the ceremony has been performed by a clergyman of the Church of Eng land; and whether the intention is to declare all such marriages in the past valid, whether the ceremony has been conducted by Church of England ministers or by ministers of other bodies?

SIR J. FERGUSSON

As regards the validation of past marriages in Malta, it is not intended to make any distinction between marriages celebrated by clergymen of the Church of England and those celebrated by ministers of other religious denominations.