Marriage Act 1949

78 Interpretation. E+W

(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—

• [F1 “approved electronic form” has the meaning given by section 74(2);]

• [F2 “approved premises” means premises approved in accordance with regulations under section 46A of this Act as premises on which marriages may be solemnized in pursuance of section 26(1)(bb) of this Act;]

• “authorised chapel” means—

  (a)

  in relation to a chapelry, a chapel of the chapelry in which banns of matrimony could lawfully be published immediately before the passing of the M1 Marriage Act, 1823, or in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of section two of the M2 Marriages Confirmation Act, 1825, or of an authorisation given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823;

  (b)

  in relation to an extra-parochial place, a church or chapel of that place in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of section two of the Marriages Confirmation Act, 1825, or of an authorisation given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823, or section twenty-one of this Act;

  (c)

  in relation to a district specified in a licence granted under section twenty of this Act, the chapel in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of that licence;

• [F3 “authorised person” means—

  (a)

  in relation to a building registered under section 41, a person whose name and address have been certified in accordance with section 43;

  (b)

  in relation to a building registered under section 43A, a person whose name and address have been certified in accordance with section 43B;]

• “brother” includes a brother of the half blood;

• [F4 “child of the family”, in relation to any person, means a child who has lived in the same household as that person and been treated by that person as a child of his family]

• “clergyman” means a clerk in Holy Orders of the Church of England;

• “common licence” has the meaning assigned to it by section five of this Act;

• “ecclesiastical district,” in relation to a district other than a parish, means a district specified in a licence granted under section twenty of this Act, a chapelry or an extra-parochial place;

• [F5 “England and Wales legislation” has the same meaning as in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013; ]

• [F6 “ marriage document ” has the meaning assigned to it by section 21A(3);]

• [F7 “child” [F8 , except where used to express a relationship,] means a person under the age of eighteen;];

• [F9 “marriage notice book” means a book furnished to a superintendent registrar by the Registrar General before 4th May 2021 for the purposes of entering, before that date, the particulars given in every notice of marriage;]

• [F10 “marriage schedule” has the meaning assigned to it by section 31(2);

• “marriage register” has the meaning assigned to it by section 53A(1);

• “marriage register book” means a marriage register book used for the purposes of registering marriages that were solemnized before 4th May 2021 in England or Wales;

• “officer of the Society of Friends” means a person whom the recording clerk of the Society of Friends in London certifies in writing under their hand to the Registrar General to be an officer in England and Wales of that Society;]

• “parish” means an ecclesiastical parish and includes a district constituted under the Church Building Acts, 1818 to 1884, notwithstanding that the district has not become a new parish by virtue of section fourteen of the M3 New Parishes Act, 1856, or section five of the M4 New Parishes Measure, 1943, being a district to which Acts of Parliament relating to the publication of banns of matrimony and the solemnization of marriages were applied by the said Church Building Acts as if the district had been an ancient parish, and the expression “parish church” shall be construed accordingly;

• “prescribed” [F11 (other than in section 71A)] means prescribed by regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act ;

• “registered building” means a building registered under [F12 section 41 or section 43A] of this Act;

• “registrar” means a registrar of marriages;

• “Registrar General” means the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in England;

• “registration district” means the district of a superintendent registrar;

• [F13 “relevant national” means—

  (a)

  a British citizen,

  (aa)

  [F14 an Irish citizen, or

  (ab)

  a person who is not an Irish citizen and who—

  (i)

  has leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom which was granted by virtue of residence scheme immigration rules within the meaning given by section 17 of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 , or

  (ii)

  is an applicant for the purposes of regulation 4 of the Citizens' Rights (Application Deadline and Temporary Protection) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (applications which have not been finally determined by the deadline) where the relevant period within the meaning of that regulation has not expired;]

  (b)

  F15 ...

  (c)

  F15 ...]

• “sister” includes a sister of the half blood;

• “special licence” has the meaning assigned to it by section five of this Act;

• “superintendent registrar” means a superintendent registrar of births, deaths and marriages;

• “trustees or governing body,” in relation to Roman Catholic registered buildings, includes a bishop or vicar general of the diocese.

F16 (1A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2) Any reference in this Act to the Church of England shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including a reference to the Church in Wales.

[F17 (3) For the purposes of this Act a person is house-bound if—

(a) [F18 each notice] of his or her marriage given in accordance with section 27 of this Act is accompanied by a medical statement (within the meaning of section 27A(7) of this Act) made, not more than fourteen days before the date on which that notice was given, in relation to that person; and

(b) he or she is not a detained person.

(4) For the purposes of this Act a person is a detained person if he or she is for the time being detained—

(a) otherwise than by virtue of section 2, 4, 5, 35, 36 or 136 of the Mental Health Act M5 1983 (short term detentions), as a patient in a hospital; or

(b) in a prison or other place to which the Prison Act M6 1952 applies,

and in paragraph (a) above “patient” and “hospital” have the same meanings as in Part II of the Mental Health Act 1983.

(5) For the purposes of this Act a person who is house-bound or is a detained person shall be taken, if he or she would not otherwise be, to be resident and usually resident at the place where he or she is for the time being.]

[F19 (6) If, for the purpose of any provision of this Act, a relevant governing authority has given written consent to marriages of same sex couples, the validity of that consent is not affected only because there is a change in the person or persons constituting that relevant governing authority.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (16.11.2009) by The Registration of Marriages etc. (Electronic Communications and Electronic Storage) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/2821), arts. 1(1), 14

F2 S. 78(1): definition of “approved premises” inserted (1.4.1995) by 1994 c. 34, s. 1(3), Sch. para. 8; S.I. 1995/424, art. 2(2)(c)

F3 Words in s. 78(1) substituted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 20(2)(a); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F4 Definition inserted by Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986 (c. 16, SIF 49:1), s. 1(4)(6), Sch. 1 para. 7

F5 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 20(2)(b); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F6 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (27.3.2021 for specified purposes, 4.5.2021 in so far as not already in force) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2)(4)(f), Sch. 1 para. 47(2) (with Sch. 2)

F7 Definition substituted by Family Law Reform Act 1987 (c. 42, SIF 49:7), ss. 33(1), 34(2)(5), Sch. 2 para. 10(a)

F8 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (5.12.2005) by Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33), s. 263(10)(b), Sch. 27 para. 16; S.I. 2005/3175, art. 2(2)

F9 Words in s. 78(1) substituted (4.5.2021) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 47(3) (with Sch. 2)

F10 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (27.3.2021 for specified purposes, 4.5.2021 in so far as not already in force) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(2)(4)(f)(5)(d)(6)(b), Sch. 1 para. 47(4) (with Sch. 2)

F11 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (12.7.2016) by Immigration Act 2016 (c. 19), s. 94(1), Sch. 15 para. 20; S.I. 2016/603, reg. 3(w)

F12 Words in s. 78(1) substituted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 20(2)(c); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

F13 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (20.10.2014 for specified purposes, 1.3.2015 in so far as not already in force) by Immigration Act 2014 (c. 22), s. 75(3), Sch. 4 para. 17 (with Sch. 9 para. 66); S.I. 2014/2771, art. 3(e); S.I. 2015/371, art. 2(1)(f)

F14 Words in s. 78(1) inserted (1.7.2021) by The Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 (Consequential, Saving, Transitional and Transitory Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1309), regs. 1(2)(c), 3(2)(a) (with Sch. 5 para. 5)

F15 Words in s. 78(1) omitted (1.7.2021) by virtue of The Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 (Consequential, Saving, Transitional and Transitory Provisions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1309), regs. 1(2)(c), 3(2)(b) (with Sch. 5 para. 5)

F16 S. 78(1A) (inserted by Family Law Reform Act 1987 (c. 42, SIF 49:7), ss. 33(1), 34(2)(5), Sch. 2 para. 10(b)) repealed (14.10.1991) by Children Act 1989 (c. 41, SIF 20), s. 108, Sch. 15 (with Sch. 14 para. 1(1)); S.I. 1991/828, art. 3(2)

F17 S. 78(3)–(5) inserted by Marriage Act 1983 (c. 32, SIF 49:1), s. 1(7), Sch. 1 para. 21

F18 Words in s. 78(3)(a) substituted (1.1.2001) by 1999 c. 33, s. 169(1), Sch. 14 paras. 3, 31; S.I. 2000/2698, art. 2

F19 S. 78(6) inserted (13.3.2014) by Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30), s. 21(3), Sch. 7 para. 20(3); S.I. 2014/93, art. 3(k)(i)

Marginal Citations

M1 1823 c. 76.

M2 1825 c. 92.

M3 1856 c. 104.

M4 1943 No. 1.

M5 1983 c. 20 (85).

M6 1952 c. 52 (39:1).