HL Deb 30 June 1823 vol 9 cc1319-21

On the committal of the Marriages at St. Petersburgh bill,

Lord Holland

said, that the present bill had his entire concurrence. He only regretted that, it did not extend to all marriages contracted by British subjects, and solemnized in the chapels of our ministers abroad; for, although no lawyer, he had no doubt of the validity of such marriages himself yet many respectable persons did entertain doubts on the subject; and, though lawyers when ap- plied to had given an opinion favourable to the validity of such marriages, yet such opinion had always been clogged with the observation, that there had been no decision, on the subject. He regretted that, during a session in which so much of the law relating to marriages had been taken from the common law, and placed on the Statute-book, no statute nor clause, nor even dictum, had been uttered, for setting at rest this question of the legality of marriages solemnized in factories abroad, or in the chapels of our ambassadors.

The Marquis of Lansdown

concurred in opinion with his noble friend as to the necessity of some declaratory law on the subject.

Lord Colchester

was also desirous that another session should not pass without some measure being brought in for setting the question at rest.

The Earl of Liverpool

entirely agreed with what had fallen from the preceding speakers. At the time the present bill was brought in, he had said, that the only objection which could be made against it was, that being confined in its operation to marriages solemnized at St. Petersburgh, it might give rise to doubts of the validity of other foreign marriages. He believed it was a completely recognised principle of our laws, that marriages made in foreign countries, according to the laws of those countries, were valid; but the present bill had no reference to that case. There were two ways in which marriages might be regularly solemnized by British subjects abroad. They might either be made according to the laws of the respective countries, or the parties might be married in the House of the minister. So long as the factory at St. Petersburgh existed, marriages solemnized by the chaplain there were conceived to be of the same effect as if they had been solemnized in the house of the ambassador; but it having happened that the factory at St. Petersburgh had been put an end to, the question had arisen, whether marriages made there, not according to the laws of Russia, were valid in this country. It was with a view to that particular difficulty that the present bill was brought in. He should have no objection to a general measure, if it were thought necessary.

The Earl of Lauderdale

said, there was no doubt as to the law regarding marriages made in foreign countries according to the laws of those countries; but the doubt was, as to marriages made in British factories abroad, or in the chapels of ambassadors and, respecting these, there ought not to exist any doubt, since a short bill might be passed on the subject during the present session.

The Lord Chancellor

said, that during the fifty years he had been in the profession, he never heard of any doubts till the late bills were brought in, whether marriages performed in the chapels of our ambassadors were valid. There was no doubt that they were good marriages; and he was persuaded that no contrary opinion would ever be sanctioned by judicial authority.

The bill went through the committee.