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FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - LONG TITLE

An Act to consolidate Enactments relating to the Marriage of British
Subjects outside the United Kingdom.
[27th June 1892]
Validity of marriages solemnised abroad in manner provided by Act.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 1

1. All marriages between parties of whom one at least is a British
subject solemnised in the manner in this Act provided in any
foreign country or place by or before a marriage officer within the
meaning of this Act shall be as valid in law as if the same had
been solemnised in the United Kingdom with a due observance of all
forms required by law.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 2
Notice to marriage officer of intended marriage.

2. In every case of a marriage intended to be solemnised under
this Act, one of the parties intending marriage shall sign a
notice, stating the name, surname, profession, condition, and
residence of each of the parties, and whether each of the parties
is or is not a minor, and give the notice to the marriage officer
within whose district both of the parties have had their residence
not less than one week then next preceding, and the notice shall
state that they have so resided.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 3
Filing in registry and posting up of notice.

3.(1) The marriage officer shall file every such notice, and keep
it with the archives of his office, and shall also, on payment of
the proper fee, forthwith enter in a book of notices to be kept
by him for the purpose, and post up in some conspicuous place in
his office, a true copy of every such notice, and shall keep the
same so posted up during fourteen consecutive days before the
marriage is solemnised under the notice.

(2) The said book and copy posted up shall be open at all
reasonable times, without fee, to the inspection of any person.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 4
Requirement of like consent to marriage as in England, and power to
forbid marriage.

4.(1) The like consent shall be required to a marriage under this
Act as is required by law to marriages solemnised in England.

[Provided that, if a Secretary of State or, in such cases as may
be prescribed, the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages
in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland, is satisfied that the
consent of any person whose consent is so required cannot be
obtained by reason of absence or inaccessibility or by reason of
his being under any disability, the Secretary of State or, as the
case may be, the said Registrar-General may dispense with the
necessity of obtaining his consent.]

(2) Every person whose consent to a marriage is so required may,
at any time before the solemnisation thereof under this Act, forbid
it by writing the word "forbidden" opposite to the entry of the
intended marriage in the book of notices, and by subscribing thereto
his name and residence, and the character by reason of which he is
authorised to forbid the marriage; and if a marriage is so
forbidden the notice shall be void, and the intended marriage shall
not be solemnised under that notice.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 5
Caveat against marriages may be lodged with marriage officer.

5.(1) Any person may on payment of the proper fee enter with the
marriage officer a caveat, signed by him or on his behalf, and
stating his residence and the ground of his objection against the
solemnisation of the marriage of any person named therein, and
thereupon the marriage of that person shall not be solemnised until
either the marriage officer has examined into the matter of the
caveat and is satisfied that it ought not to obstruct the
solemnisation of the marriage, or the caveat is withdrawn by the
person entering it.

(2) In a case of doubt the marriage officer may transmit a copy
of the caveat, with such statement respecting it as he thinks fit,
to a Secretary of State, who shall refer the same to the
Registrar-General, and the Registrar-General shall give his decision
thereon in writing to the Secretary of State, who shall communicate
it to the marriage officer.

(3) If the marriage officer refuses to solemnise or to allow to be
solemnised in his presence the marriage of any person requiring it
to be solemnised, that person may appeal to a Secretary of State,
who shall give the marriage officer his decision thereon.

(4) The marriage officer shall forthwith inform the parties of and
shall conform to any decision given by the Registrar-General or
Secretary of State.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 6
When marriage not solemnised within three months a new notice
required.

6. Where a marriage is not solemnised within three months next
after the latest of the following dates

(a)the date on which the notice for it has been given to and
entered by the marriage officer under this Act, or

(b)if on a caveat being entered a statement has been transmitted to
a Secretary of State, or if an appeal has been made to a
Secretary of State, then the date of the receipt from the Secretary
of State of a decision directing the marriage to be solemnised,

Oath before marriage.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 7

7. Before a marriage is solemnised under this Act, each of the
parties intending marriage shall appear before the marriage officer,
and make, and subscribe in a book kept by the officer for the
purpose, an oath

(a)that he or she believes that there is not any impediment to the
marriage by reason of kindred or alliance, or otherwise; and

(b)that both of the parties have for three weeks immediately
preceding had their usual residence within the district of the
marriage officer; and

(c)where either of the parties, not being a widower or widow, is
under the age of [eighteen years], that the consent of the persons
whose consent to the marriage is required by law has been obtained
thereto, or, as the case may be, that there is no person having
authority to give such consent [or that the necessity of obtaining
such consent has been dispensed with].

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 8
Solemnisation of marriage at office in presence of marriage officer
and two witnesses.

8.(1) After the expiration of fourteen days after the notice of an
intended marriage has been entered under this Act, then, if no
lawful impediment to the marriage is shown to the satisfaction of
the marriage officer, and the marriage has not been forbidden in
manner provided by this Act, the marriage may be solemnised under
this Act.

(2) Every such marriage shall be solemnised at the official house
of the marriage officer, with open doors, between the hours of
[eight in the forenoon and six in the afternoon] in the presence
of two or more witnesses, and may be solemnised by another person
in the presence of the marriage officer, according to the rites of
the Church of England, or such other form and ceremony as the
parties thereto see fit to adopt, or may, where the parties so
desire, be solemnised by the marriage officer.

(3) Where such marriage is not solemnised according to the rites of
the Church of England, then in some part of the ceremony, and in
the presence of the marriage officer and witnesses, each of the
parties shall declare,

"I solemnly declare, that I know not of any lawful impediment why
I A.B. [or C.D.] may not be joined in matrimony to C.D. [or
A.B.]."

"I call upon these persons here present to witness, that I A.B.
[or C.D.] take thee, C.D. [or A.B.], to be my lawful wedded wife
[or husband]."

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 9
Marriage fees to marriage officer and registration of marriages.

9.(1) The marriage officer shall be entitled, for every marriage
solemnised under this Act by him or in his presence, to have from
the parties married the proper fee.

(2) He shall forthwith register in duplicate every such marriage in
two marriage register books, which shall be furnished to him from
time to time for that purpose by the Registrar-General (through a
Secretary of State), according to the form provided by law for the
registration of marriages in England, or as near to that form as
the difference of the circumstances admits.

(3) The entry in each book of every such marriage shall be signed
by the marriage officer, by the person solemnising the marriage, if
other than the marriage officer, by both the parties married, and
by two witnesses of the marriage.

(4) All such entries shall be made in regular order from the
beginning to the end of each book, and the number of the entry in
each duplicate shall be the same.

(5) The marriage officer by whom or in whose presence a marriage
is solemnised under this Act may ask of the parties to be married
the several particulars required to be registered touching the
marriage.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 10
Annual forwarding of copies of register book to Secretary of State.

10.(1) In January in every year every marriage officer shall make
and send to a Secretary of State, to be transmitted by him to the
Registrar-General, a copy, certified by him to be a true copy, of
all the entries of marriages during the preceding year in the
register book kept by him, and if there has been no such entry, a
certificate of that fact; and every such copy shall be certified,
and certificate given, under his hand and official seal.

(2) The marriage officer shall keep the duplicate marriage register
books safely until they are filled, and then send one of them to
a Secretary of State, to be transmitted by him to the
Registrar-General.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 11
Marriage officers and their districts.

11.(1) For the purposes of this Act the following officers shall be
marriage officers, that is to say:

(a)Any officer authorised in that behalf by a Secretary of State by
authority in writing under his hand (in this Act referred to as a
marriage warrant); and

(b)Any officer who, under the marriage regulations hereinafter
mentioned is authorised to act as marriage officer without any
marriage warrant,

(2) Any marriage warrant of a Secretary of State may authorise to
be a marriage officer

(a)a British ambassador residing in a foreign country to the
government of which he is accredited, and also any officer
prescribed as an officer for solemnising marriages, in the official
house of such ambassador;

(b)the holder of the office of British consul in any foreign
country or place specified in the warrant; and

(c)a governor, high commissioner, resident, consular or other officer,
or any person appointed in pursuance of the marriage regulations to
act in the place of a high commissioner or resident, and this Act
shall apply with the prescribed modifications to a marriage by or
before a governor, high commissioner, resident, or officer so
authorised by the warrant, and in such application shall not be
limited to places outside Her Majesty's dominions.

(3) If a marriage warrant refers to the office without designating
the name of any particular person holding the office, then, while
the warrant is in force, the person for the time being holding or
acting in such office shall be a marriage officer.

(4) A Secretary of State may, by warrant under his hand, vary or
revoke any marriage warrant previously issued under this Act.

(5) Where a marriage officer has no seal of his office, any
reference in this Act to the official seal shall be construed to
refer to any seal ordinarily used by him, if authenticated by his
signature with his official name and description.

S.12 rep. by 1947 c.33 s.4(1)

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 13
Avoidance of objections to marriages on account of want of
formalities or authority of officer.

13.(1) After a marriage has been solemnised under this Act it shall
not be necessary, in support of the marriage, to give any proof of
the residence for the time required by or in pursuance of this Act
of either of the parties previous to the marriage, or of the
consent of any person whose consent thereto is required by law, nor
shall any evidence to prove the contrary be given in any legal
proceeding touching the validity of the marriage.

(2) Where a marriage purports to have been solemnised and registered
under this Act in the official house of a British ambassador or
consul, ... it shall not be necessary in support of the marriage,
to give any proof of the authority of the marriage officer by or
before whom the marriage was solemnised and registered, nor shall
any evidence to prove his want of authority, whether by reason of
his not being a duly authorised marriage officer or of any
prohibitions or restrictions under the marriage regulations or
otherwise, be given in any legal proceeding touching the validity of
the marriage.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 14
Forfeiture of property in case of fraudulent marriage.

14. If a marriage is solemnised under this Act by means of any
wilfully false notice signed, or oath made by either party to the
marriage, as to any matter for which a notice, or oath, is by
this Act required, the Attorney-General may sue for the forfeiture
of all estate and interest in any property in England accruing to
the offending party by the marriage; and the proceedings thereupon,
and the consequences thereof, shall be the same as are provided by
law in the like case with regard to marriages solemnised in England
according to the rites of the Church of England.

S.15 rep. by 1979 NI 19 art.19(2) sch.2

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 16
Evidence.

16.(1) Any book, notice, or document directed by this Act to be
kept by the marriage officer or in the archives of his office,
shall be of such a public nature as to be admissible in evidence
on its mere production from the custody of the officer.

(2) A certificate of a Secretary of State as to any house, office,
chapel, or other place being, or being part of, the official house
of a British ambassador or consul shall be conclusive.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 17
Application of Registration Acts to this Act.

17. All the provisions and penalties of the Marriage Registration
Acts, relating to any registrar, or register of marriages, or
certified copies thereof, shall extend to every marriage officer, and
to the registers of marriages under this Act, and to the certified
copies thereof (so far as the same are applicable thereto), as if
herein re-enacted and in terms made applicable to this Act, and as
if every marriage officer were a registrar under the said Acts.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 18
Registration of marriages solemnised under local law.

18.(1) Subject to the marriage regulations, a British consul, or
person authorised to act as British consul, on being satisfied by
personal attendance that a marriage between parties, of whom one at
least is a British subject, has been duly solemnised in a foreign
country, in accordance with the local law of the country, and on
payment of the proper fee, may register the marriage in accordance
with the marriage regulations as having been so solemnised, and
thereupon this Act shall apply as if the marriage had been
registered in pursuance of this Act, except that nothing in this
Act shall affect the validity of the marriage so solemnised.

[(2) In the case of such marriages solemnised as aforesaid at which
a British consul, or person authorised to act as British consul,
has not attended, His Majesty may by Order in Council provide in
such classes of cases, and subject to such conditions, as may be
prescribed by the Order

(a)for the transmission to and receipt by the Registrars-General of
Births, Deaths and Marriages in England, Scotland and Northern
Ireland, respectively, of certificates of such marriages issued in
accordance with the local law; and

(b)for the issue by those Registrars-General, on payment of such
fees as may be prescribed by the Order, of certified copies of
such certificates received by them, and for enabling such certified
copies to be received in evidence.

(3) Any Order in Council made under the foregoing provisions of
this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in
Council, and any Order in Council made under this section shall be
laid forthwith before each House of Parliament.]

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 19
Power to refuse solemnisation of marriage where marriage inconsistent
with international law.

19. A marriage officer shall not be required to solemnise a
marriage, or to allow a marriage to be solemnised in his presence,
if in his opinion the solemnisation thereof would be inconsistent
with international law or the comity of nations:

Provided that any person requiring his marriage to be solemnised
shall, if the officer refuses to solemnise it or allow it to be
solemnised in his presence, have the right of appeal to the
Secretary of State given by this Act.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 20
Fees.

20. The proper fee under this Act shall be such fee as may for
the time being be fixed under the [Consular Fees Act 1980]; and
the fee so fixed as respects a consul shall be the fee which may
be taken by any marriage officer; and the provisions relating to
the levying, application, and remission of and accounting for fees
under that Act shall apply to the same when taken by any marriage
officer who is not a consul.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 21
Power to make marriage regulations.

21.(1) Her Majesty the Queen in Council may make regulations (in
this Act referred to as the marriage regulations)

(a)Prohibiting or restricting the exercise by marriage officers of
their powers under this Act in cases where the exercise of those
powers appears to Her Majesty to be inconsistent with international
law or the comity of nations, or in places where sufficient
facilities appear to Her Majesty to exist without the exercise of
those powers, for the solemnisation of marriages to which a British
subject is a party; and

(b)Determining what offices, chapels, or other places are, for the
purposes of marriage under this Act, to be deemed to be part of
the official house or the office of a marriage officer; and

(c)Modifying in special cases or classes of cases the requirements
of this Act as to residence and notice, so far as such
modification appears to Her Majesty to be consistent with the
observance of due precautions against clandestine marriages; and

(d)Prescribing the forms to be used under this Act; and

(e)Adapting this Act ... to marriages by or before a governor, high
commissioner, resident, or other officer, and authorising the
appointment of a person to act under this Act in the place of a
high commissioner or resident; and

(f)Determining who is to be the marriage officer for the purpose of
a marriage in the official house of a British ambassador, ...
whether such officer is described in the regulations or named in
pursuance thereof, and authorising such officer to act without any
marriage warrant; and

(g)Determining the conditions under which and the mode in which
marriages solemnised in accordance with the local law of a foreign
country may be registered under this Act; and

(h)Making such provisions as seem necessary or proper for carrying
into effect this Act or any marriage regulations; and

(i)Varying or revoking any marriage regulations previously made.

(2) All regulations purporting to be made in pursuance of this
section may be made either generally or with reference to any
particular case or class of cases, and shall be published under the
authority of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, and laid before both
Houses of Parliament, and deemed to be within the powers of this
Act, and shall while in force have effect as if enacted by this
Act.

(3) Any marriage regulations which dispense for any reason, whether
residence out of the district or otherwise, with the requirements of
this Act as to residence and notice, may require as a condition or
consequence of the dispensation, the production of such notice,
certificate, or document, and the taking of such oath, and may
authorise the publication or grant of such notice, certificate, or
document, and the charge of such fees as may be prescribed by the
regulations; and the provisions of this Act, including those enacting
punishments with reference to any false notice or oath, shall apply
as if the said notice, certificate, or document were a notice, and
such oath were an oath, within the meaning of those provisions.[

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 22
Validity of marriages solemnised by chaplains of H.M. forces serving
abroad and other persons.

22.(1) A marriage solemnised in any foreign territory by a chaplain
serving with any part of the naval, military or air forces of His
Majesty serving in that territory or by a person authorised, either
generally or in respect of the particular marriage, by the
commanding officer of any part of those forces serving in that
territory shall, subject as hereinafter provided, be as valid in law
as if the marriage had been solemnised in the United Kingdom with
a due observance of all forms required by law:

Provided that this subsection shall only apply if

(a)one at least of the parties to the marriage is a member of the
said forces serving in that territory or a person employed in that
territory in such other capacity as may be prescribed by Order in
Council; and

(b)such other conditions as may be so prescribed are complied with.

(2) In this section the expression "foreign territory" means
territory other than

(a)any part of His Majesty's dominions;

(b)any British protectorate; or

(c)any other country or territory under His Majesty's protection or
suzerainty or in which His Majesty has for the time being
jurisdiction:

Provided that His Majesty may by Order in Council direct that

(i)any British protectorate or any such other country or territory
as is referred to in paragraph (c) hereof; or

(ii)any part of His Majesty's dominions which has been occupied by
a State at war with His Majesty and in which the facilities for
marriage in accordance with the local law have not in the opinion
of His Majesty been adequately restored;

(3) Any reference in this section to foreign territory, to forces
serving in foreign territory and to persons employed in foreign
territory shall include references to ships which are for the time
being in the waters of any foreign territory, to forces serving in
any such ship and to persons employed in any such ship,
respectively.

(4) His Majesty may by Order in Council provide for the
registration of marriages solemnised under this section, and for the
application thereto, with such adaptations as may be necessary, of
any provisions ... of any Act (including any Act, whether passed
before or after the passing of this Act, of the Parliament of
Northern Ireland) for the time being in force in Northern Ireland
relating to the registration of marriages, and the Order may, to
such extent as may be specified therein, be made applicable to
marriages solemnised under section twenty-two of the Foreign Marriage
Act, 1892, as originally enacted.

(5) Where a marriage purports to have been solemnised under this
section, it shall not be necessary in any legal proceeding touching
the validity of the marriage to prove the authority of the person
by or before whom it was solemnised, nor shall any evidence to
prove his want of authority be given in any such proceeding.

(6) Any Order in Council made under the foregoing provisions of
this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent Order in
Council, and any Order in Council made under this section shall be
laid forthwith before each House of Parliament.]

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 23
Saving.

23. Nothing in this Act shall confirm or impair or in anywise
affect the validity in law of any marriage solemnised beyond the
seas, otherwise than as herein provided, and this Act shall not
extend to the marriage of any of the Royal Family.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 24
Definitions.

24. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

The expression "Registrar-General" means the Registrar-General of
Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England:

The expression "Attorney-General" means Her Majesty's Attorney-General,
or if there is no such Attorney-General, or the Attorney-General is
unable or incompetent to act, Her Majesty's Solicitor-General, for
England:

The expression "the Marriage Registration Acts" means the Act of the
session of the sixth and seventh years of the reign of King
William the Fourth, chapter eighty-six, intituled "An Act for
registering births, deaths, and marriages in England" and the
enactments amending the same:

The expression "official house of a marriage officer" means, subject
to the provisions of any marriage regulations, the office at which
the business of such officer is transacted, and the official house
of residence of such officer, and, in the case of any officer, who
is an officer for solemnising marriages in the official house of an
ambassador, means the official house of the ambassador:

The expression "consul" means a consul-general, consul, vice-consul,
pro-consul, or consular agent:

The expression "ambassador" includes a minister and a charge9
d'affaires:

The expression "prescribed" means prescribed by marriage regulations
under this Act.

S.25 rep. by SLR 1908

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 26
Repeal and savings.

26.(1) ...

Para.(a) rep. by SLR 1908

(b)any proceedings taken with reference to a marriage, any register
book kept, and any warrant issued in pursuance of the Acts hereby
repealed, shall have effect as if taken, kept, and issued in
pursuance of the Act; and

Paras.(c)(d) rep. by SLR 1908

(2) Every marriage in fact solemnised and registered by or before a
British consul or other marriage officer in intended pursuance of
any Act hereby repealed shall, notwithstanding such repeal or any
defect in the authority of the consul or the solemnisation of the
marriage elsewhere than at the consulate, be as valid as if the
said Act had not been repealed and the marriage had been solemnised
at the consulate by or before a duly authorised consul;

Provided that this enactment shall not render valid any marriage
declared invalid before the passing of this Act by any competent
court, or render valid any marriage either of the parties to which
has, before the passing of this Act, lawfully intermarried with any
other person.

FOREIGN MARRIAGE ACT 1892 - SECT 27
Short title.

27. This Act may be cited as the Foreign Marriage Act, 1892.

Schedule rep. by SLR 1908