Lords Sitting of 2 June 1815

ROSEBERRY DIVORCE BILL.
The Marquis of Lansdowne moved the third reading of the Roseberry Divorce Bill.
Earl Stanhope,after adverting to the discussion which had taken place relative to

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certain clauses in the Bill, especially the clause declaring any marriage between the offending parties illegal, said, that he had thought it most proper to refrain from taking any part in that discussion, because, as it had been asserted that the case was already provided for by law, he conceived it would be right previously to examine how the matter stood. He now found that there was such a law,—an Act, 32 Henry 8, by which such a marriage was in effect declared illegal. If that was the case, the clause on that point in the Bill was improper; because, in the first place, it was useless; and in the next place, because to declare that to be law which was already clearly so, only weakened the law's authority. If the lawyers should affect not to understand this Act, the plan would be to pass a general declaratory bill, and not introduce such a clause in a bill proceeding at the instance of a private individual.
The Bill was then read a third time, and passed.