Marriage Act 1949

Changes over time for: Cross Heading: Miscellaneous Provisions

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Marriage Act 1949, Cross Heading: Miscellaneous Provisions is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 13 July 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.

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Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act associated Parts and Chapters:

Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):

s. 2A inserted by 2024 c. 21 s. 75(1)
s. 27A(3)(c) and word inserted by 2024 c. 21 s. 75(3)(a)(ii)
s. 27A(3A) inserted by 2024 c. 21 s. 75(3)(b)

Miscellaneous ProvisionsE+W

22 Witnesses.E+W

All marriages solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England shall be solemnized in the presence of two or more witnesses in addition to the clergyman by whom the marriage is solemnized.

23 Benefices held in plurality. E+W

Where two or more benefices are held in plurality under the M1Pastoral Reorganisation Measure, 1949, the bishop of the diocese in which the benefices are situated or, during a vacancy in the see, the guardian of the spiritualities thereof, may in writing direct where banns of matrimony of persons entitled to be married in any church of those benefices may be published and where marriages of those persons may be solemnized:

Provided that—

(a)nothing in this section shall deprive a person of the right to be married in any church in which he would have been entitled to be married if no directions had been given under this section; and

(b)a person may be married in a church in which he would have been entitled to be married as aforesaid notwithstanding that the banns of matrimony have, by virtue of this section, been published only in some other church.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1S. 23 extended (with modifications) by Pastoral Measure 1983 (No. 1, SIF 21:4) ss. 27, 29, 40, Sch. 3 para. 14(4)

C2S. 23 extended (with modifications) (W.) by Marriage (Wales) Act 1986 (c. 7, SIF 49:1), s. 1

C3S. 23 applied (with modifications) (1.7.2012) by Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011 (No. 3), s. 112(3), Sch. 3 para. 12(4) (with ss. 100, 105(4), 107, 108(6), Sch. 8); 2012 No. 1, art. 2

Marginal Citations

M11949 No. 3.

24 Proof of residence not necessary to validity of marriage by banns or common licence.E+W

(1)Where any marriage has been solemnized after the publication of banns of matrimony, it shall not be necessary in support of the marriage to give any proof of the residence of the parties or either of them in any parish or other ecclesiastical district in which the banns were published, and no evidence shall be given to prove the contrary in any proceedings touching the validity of the marriage.

(2)Where any marriage has been solemnized on the authority of a common licence, it shall not be necessary in support of the marriage to give any proof that the usual place of residence of one of the parties was for fifteen days immediately before the grant of the licence in the parish or other ecclesiastical district in which the marriage was solemnized, and no evidence shall be given to prove the contrary in any proceedings touching the validity of the marriage.

25 Void marriages.E+W

[F1(1)A marriage shall be void in any of the following cases.]

[F2(2)][F3Case A is where any persons] knowingly and wilfully intermarry according to the rites of the Church of England (otherwise than by special licence)—

(a)[F4except in the case of a marriage in pursuance of section 26(1)(dd) of this Act,] in any place other than a church or other building in which banns may be published;

(b)without banns having been duly published, a common licence having been obtained, or [F5a marriage schedule] having been duly issued under Part III of this Act F6...; or

(c)on the authority of a publication of banns which is void by virtue of F7... subsection (2) of section twelve of this Act, on the authority of a common licence which is void by virtue of subsection (3) of section sixteen of this Act, or on the authority of [F8a marriage schedule which is] void by virtue of subsection (2) of section thirty-three of this Act;

(d)in the case of a marriage on the authority of [F9a marriage schedule], in any place other than the church [F10building or other place specified in the [F11notices of marriage [F12and (if so specified) in the marriage schedule]] as the place where the marriage is to be solemnized].

[F13(3)Case B is where any persons knowingly and wilfully consent to or acquiesce in the solemnization of a Church of England marriage between them by a person who is not in Holy Orders.

(4)Case C is where any persons of the same sex consent to or acquiesce in the solemnization of a Church of England marriage between them.

(5)In subsections (3) and (4) “Church of England marriage” means a marriage according to the rites of the Church of England.]

Textual Amendments

F1S. 25(1) inserted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 4(2); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F2Words in s. 25 renumbered as s. 25(2) (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 4(3); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F3Words in s. 25(2) substituted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 4(3); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F4Words inserted by Marriage Act 1983 (c. 32, SIF 49:1), s. 1(7), Sch. 1 para. 3(a)

F5Words in s. 25(2)(b) substituted (4.5.2021) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 8(2)(a) (with Sch. 2)

F6Words in s. 25(2)(b) omitted (4.5.2021) by virtue of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 8(2)(b) (with Sch. 2)

F7Words in s. 25(2)(c) omitted (27.2.2023) by virtue of Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 (c. 28), s. 7(1), Sch. para. 1(3) (with s. 8); S.I. 2023/88, reg. 2 (with regs. 3-17)

F8Words in s. 25(2)(c) substituted (4.5.2021) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 8(3) (with Sch. 2)

F9Words in s. 25(2)(d) substituted (4.5.2021) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 8(4)(a) (with Sch. 2)