HC Deb 08 July 1954 vol 529 c177W
43. Mr. Logan

asked the Minister of Health if he will introduce legislation to allow all ministers of religion to celebrate marriages without the presence of a registrar.

Mr. Iain Macleod

No. Section 43 of the Marriage Act, 1949, which takes the place of earlier legislation to the same effect, provides machinery for enabling any non-conformist Minister, including a Roman Catholic priest, to be authorised, in respect of a specific registered building, to perform the full duties of a registrar of marriages in respect of marriages solemnised in that building by him.