1996 No. 2558
The Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 1996
Made
Coming into force
The Registrar General, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 31(5), 32(4) and 74(b) of the Marriage Act 19491 as extended by section 26(3) of the Welsh Language Act 19932 and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, with the approval of the Chancellor of the Exchequer3, hereby makes the following Regulations—
Citation and commencement1
These Regulations may be cited as the Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st November 1996.
Amendment of the Registration of Marriages Regulations 19862
In the Registration of Marriages Regulations 19864, in form 12 in Schedule 1 (instructions for the solemnization of a marriage in a registered building without the presence of a registrar), after paragraph 5 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
5A
If the marriage is solemnized on or after 1st February 19975, as an alternative to the declaration set out in paragraph 5, the persons contracting the marriage may make the declaration—
a
by saying “I declare that I know of no legal reason why I [name] may not be joined in marriage to [name]”; or
b
by replying “I am” to the question put to them successively “Are you [name] free lawfully to marry [name] ?”
and as an alternative to the words of contract set out in paragraph 5, the persons to be married may say to each other “I [name] take you [or thee] [name] to be my wedded wife [or husband]”.
Given under my hand on 8th October 1996
I approve,
(This note is not part of the Regulations)