LICENSING OF MARRIAGES ON UNLICENSED PREMISES (Hansard, 8 July 1969)

§ Mr. Victor Goodhew (St. Albans)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to permit marriages on unlicensed premises; and for purposes connected therewith. The Bill which I seek leave to introduce is not as sweeping or far-reaching as it sounds. On the contrary, it is a very limited Bill with a very limited scope, designed to enable marriages to take place in premises other than a church or registry office in exceptional circumstances or grave emergency. The type of emergency I have particularly in mind is where one of the parties to an intended marriage is desperately ill in hospital.
The present position is that, except by a special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, no marriage can lawfully be solemnized otherwise than according to the usages of the Jews or the Society of Friends in a place which is not a church of the Church of England, a place of public worship of some other denomination which has been registered for marriages, or the office of a superintendent registrar.
The special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury meets the normal needs of Anglicans enabling an Anglican marriage to be solemnized at any time or place. Thus, a bedside marriage in hospital could normally be arranged for members of the Church of England without difficulty. But there is no similar power of dispensation for any other form of marriage. Anyone who is not an Anglican is unable to marry in such an emergency. The present law goes back to the Ecclesiastical Licences Act, 1533, when licensing power was taken from the See of Rome and given to the Church of England. Indeed, it was part of the break from Rome, but today there are many people, not only Roman Catholics but adherents to a variety of churches and religions, who are denied this dispensation which is available to Anglicans.
As an Anglican myself I cannot believe that this is right or just. It is not merely a question of the other churches which are indigenous to this country. Today, there are many immigrants and descendants of immigrants who adhere to other 1168 religions, such as Muslims and Sikhs and there are those who would wish to have a civil ceremony, be they divorced Anglicans or perhaps persons who have no religion. At present, they are all denied the possibility of a lawfully solemnized marriage if they are unable to attend a place of public worship licensed for the purpose or the office of a superintendent registrar.
I emphasise that the Bill would not interfere in any way with the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury to issue his special licence for marriages according to the rites of the Church of England. But it would enable the Registrar-General to issue special licences similar to those issued to Anglicans by the Archbishop to all others, be they members of other denominations or of none.
The Registrar-General would be required to satisfy himself as far as possible that there was no lawful impediment to the proposed marriage. He would also have to satisfy himself that the exceptional circumstances or emergency were such as to warrant the issue of a special licence and that the place at which the marriage was to take place was not unsuitable. There would be no question of special licences being issued to enable marriages to take place in unusual surroundings for purely frivolous reasons.
Indeed, the Registrar-General would himself be represented by a registrar who would be a witness at a religious ceremony, but would officiate in the case of a civil ceremony. There are occasional tragic cases where, because of the existing law betrothed persons are unable to marry before the death of one of them simply because of the physical impossibility of getting the one who is seriously ill to a church or registry office. This modest Bill would remove this unintended injustice.
I believe that it is, therefore, a humane and a just Bill. From what the Secretary of State for Social Services wrote in a letter to me on this subject I believe that it is a piece of legislation which he and the Registrar-General would wish to see enacted. I therefore commend it to the House in the hope that it will give me leave to introduce my Bill.

§ Mr. Speaker
The Question is—

§ Mrs. Winifred Ewing (Hamilton)
rose—

§ Mr. Speaker
Does the hon. Lady wish to oppose the giving of leave?

§ Mrs. Ewing
I seek to raise a point of order, Sir.

§ Mr. Speaker
I cannot take a point of order now. I will take it after I have put the Question.