§ Baroness WOOTTON of ABINGERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider amending the law so as to remove the prohibition of the marriage of a man and his stepdaughter.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)My Lords, the existing prohibitions on marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity or affinity were reviewed, as regards England and Wales, by the Law Commission in a report on Nullity of Marriage published in 1970; and as regards Scotland by the Kilbrandon Committee on Marriage Law which reported in 1969. Neither the Law Commission nor the Kilbrandon Committee found evidence that public opinion favoured an alteration in the law which would permit marriage in the case which my noble friend has in mind. The Government have at present no intention of proposing an amendment of the law on this subject, on which the initiative has usually been taken by Private Members.
§ Baroness WOOTTON of ABINGERMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for his reply and for his failure to produce any evidence in support of the present law, I think I might perhaps be strengthened in asking him one or two further questions that might help him to find this evidence. Would he consider the hardship that may be caused in a 1170 number of cases, such as this: A man's wife dies, leaving him with one or two children of the marriage and perhaps a grown-up stepdaughter; the step-daughter takes over the management of the household and the care of the children; the couple remain in a common household, perhaps for the rest of their lives. As they are not blood relations, and neither of them has any other marital tie, there is no obstacle in law to their living together as man and wife, but they cannot marry and therefore legalise that union. If they form such a union, their children would be illegitimate.
§ Several noble Lords: Speech!
§ Baroness WOOTTON of ABINGERMy Lords, I am asking my noble friend whether he would consider this type of case. He wanted evidence. If they were to form such a union, the wife would have no right as a widow to a State pension or the pension from her husband's employment. I am asking my noble friend whether he does not regard this as a typical case of personal hardship and also a very socially undesirable situation, as it induces people to live in union without marriage.
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, my noble friend may well be right that there are indeed cases of hardship of the kind which she mentioned, but it is only right to say that as recently as 1970 the Law Commission said that there was almost unanimous opposition to any changes in the law. As I indicated in my reply to my noble friend's Question, in a matter of this sort the initiative is normally taken by Private Members.
§ Baroness WOOTTON of ABINGERMy Lords, might I ask my noble friend whether the Law Commission's word is the law?
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHMy Lords, no; the Law Commission expressed an opinion on the matter. But I repeat, if it is felt that the law should be changed, it appears to me that there is a way in which my noble friend can put this matter to the test: by inviting the House to take a view on the matter.