§ 71 and 73. Mr. Liddallasked the Attorney-General, (1) whether the High Court reports annulments of marriages to the Registrar-General; and whether in view of the fact that, after the High Court has declared a marriage to be null and void, it remains recorded at Somerset House as if it were a true and permanent marriage, he will consult with the Registrar-General with a view to co-ordinating the records of the two departments;
(2) whether he is aware that the continuation by the Registrar-General of uncorrected records of marriages declared by a court of justice to be null and void, or bigamous, will cause confusion when accurate facts are required in future about the authenticity of a marriage; and why bigamous marriages are retained on the Somerset House register so that they appear as uncorrected records of true and permanent marriages, although the bigamy has been detected and the fictitious marriage dealt with and cancelled by the High Court; and what steps he is 360 taking to ensure that annulments are recorded against the original entries or the entries expunged from the register?
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe High Court does not report the annulment or dissolution of a marriage to the Registrar-General, and, if it did so report, the Registrar-General would have no power to alter his register. An entry in a marriage register is evidence that a marriage was solemnised in accordance with the forms by law. But it affords prima facie evidence only that the ceremony resulted in a valid marriage; and such an entry does not necessarily imply that the marriage subsisted to any particular date, since it may have been terminated by the death of either party or by a judicial dissolution of the marriage; and that dissolution might have been effected by a Court outside this country. Furthermore, even if the Registrar-General possessed any power to alter or annotate entries in his register, those entries are only copies of original registers in the possession of those before whom the marriage was solemnised.
§ Mr. LiddallDoes not the Solicitor-General agree that, if the fact is as stated and the marriage when once declared null and void still remains on the register, it should be up to some authority to see that it is removed?
§ The Solicitor-GeneralNo, Sir. The entry in the register, as I explained to my hon. Friend, records that a valid marriage took place. That cannot be altered by a subsequent decree. A decree of nullity does not in all cases imply that all the effects of a valid marriage are obliterated.
§ Mr. LiddallBut though the record still remains on the register, you cannot say these people are still married.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralNo, Sir; but if unfortunately a lady becomes a widow, you cannot say she is still married, yet the fact remains that the record of her marriage remains upon the register.