§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Ecclesiastical Courts in Malta have been suppressed; and, if so, at what date and under what circumstances?
§ BARON H. DE WORMSI do not know what Courts the hon. Members refers to without further inquiry in the island. That inquiry shall be made if the hon. Member desires it, but I really must ask him to give longer notice of questions of this nature.
§ MR. SUMMERSI beg to ask the Attorney General whether he is aware of any case of a mixed marriage celebrated in Malta under licences from the Governor or from the Bishop of Gibraltar being declared invalid by the Maltese or English Courts on the ground that it was not celebrated according to the form prescribed by the decrees of the Council of Trent?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir R. WEBSTER,) Isle of WightI am not aware of any such case; but as far back as 1865, and since, the practice in case of mixed marriages was to have the marriage solemnised either by the Roman Catholic priest alone or by both the Roman Catholic priest and the Protestant minister, but the celebration of such marriages before the Roman Catholic priest has always been deemed indispensable to give validity to such marriages.