§ Mr. Harry EwingI beg to move Amendment No. 5, in page 15, line 19, at end insert:
'(aa) section 5(4)(b) of this Act shall not apply in respect of the parties already being married to each other;'.This is a drafting amendment to make it clear that the legal impediment set out in Clause 5(4)(b)—namely, that one of the parties is, or both are, already married—does not apply to the Clause 20 situation unless marriage of either party to a third party is involved. The Clause 20 situation is where the parties claim to have gone through a marriage ceremony with each other outside the United Kingdom but either are not validly married under Scots law or cannot prove this. The purpose of Clause 178 20 is to help people in this situation, and the amendment ensures that the district registrar can be satisfied—under Clause 6—that, even though the parties state that they are already married, this does not constitute an impediment to the second marriage.
§ Amendment agreed to.