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

• F8“approved electronic form” has the meaning given by section 74(2);

• F1 “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—

  1. 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 M1Marriage Act, 1823, or in which banns may be published and marriages may be solemnized by virtue of section two of the M2Marriages Confirmation Act, 1825, or of an authorisation given under section three of the Marriage Act, 1823;

  2. 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;

  3. 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;

• “authorised person” has the meaning assigned to it by section forty-three of this Act;

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

• F2 “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;

• F3 “child” F7, except where used to express a relationship, means a person under the age of eighteen;;

• “marriage notice book” has the meaning assigned to it by section twenty-seven of this Act;

• “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 M3New Parishes Act, 1856, or section five of the M4New 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” means prescribed by regulations made under section seventy-four of this Act;

• “registered building” means a building registered under Part III 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;

• “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.

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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.

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.