§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR) (, &c.) ClackmannanPerhaps I may be allowed to say a few words on this Bill which has come down from the House of Lords. The Bill is directed to the removal of doubts regarding the validity of marriages contracted in some of the Border counties between two persons one resident in Scotland and another in England. Where such persons desire to be married after banns in an English church, the Scotch person, not infrequently, comes over the Border, bringing with him a certificate of his intended marriage having been proclaimed in a Presbyterian church, and the English clergyman accepts this certificate as publication of banns, which it is not, according to the definition given in Geo. IV. c. 76, p. 2. It is plainly desirable to remove any doubt as to the validity of such marriages contracted bonâ fide. The Bill was introduced into the House of Lords by the Bishop of Carlisle, and was expressly approved by the present Lord Chancellor (Lord Herschell), as also by Lord Selborne and Lord Halsbury; and I hope, under the circumstances, the House will allow it to go through.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."—(The Lord Advocate.)
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for Thursday.