§ VISCOUNT CRANBORNE (Rochester)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General, whether, in the event of a marriage taking place which is afterwards shown to be within the prohibited degrees, the Registrar General has power to direct the insertion of any entry in the register book to that effect; and, if not, whether he will consider the propriety of giving him such power by legislation, in order that the register book may be a true record of valid marriages?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER,) Isle of WightIn my opinion the Registrar General has no power to direct the insertion in the register of any entry of the kind suggested, and I doubt whether it would be expedient that any such power should he conferred by legislation. The Registrar would have no means of testing the accuracy of any statements made to him, and, in my judgment, such facts can only be properly ascertained by judicial proceedings.