MARRIAGE LAW REFORM.

Evening Star, Issue 11779, 8 January 1903, Page 1

MARRIAGE LAW REFORM.

T-nre Marriage Law Reform Association have been in existence for more than half a century, with ihe exclusive object of ins an alteration snd amendment of the law as to marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The president is the Earl of Dunraven. while the Duke of Sutherland and other peers are vice-presidents, and the headquarters are at Dean's Yard, Westminster. So far as England 5s concerned, an amendment of the unreasonably restrictive law has yet to be effected, though happily there is reason to believe that the hour of achievement is near at hand. Just now, however, the Association are-directing attention to a secondary aspect of the subject—an aspect of colonial import—and we desire to do what in us lies to further a desirable end. The secretary, in a circular which has reached us, points out that an important decision, of a welcome and progressive kind, was recently arrived at by the Synod of the Anglican diocese of Sydney. The previous Synod had appointed a committee to consider and report upon the question of n-arriage with a deceased wife's sister, with special reference to the attitude of the Anglican Church towards such marriages, which., of course, legal throughout °the Australian- States. The difficulty is that, despite this legality, the influence of the clergy has often been exercised so as to place a stigma of ecclesiastical, irregularity, if not something worse, upon these unions, ovang to an alleged incompatibility between the law of the land and the doctrine of the church. Clergymen have refused to perform the ceremony, and a sort of practical excommnnication. has frequently been imposed as a penalty. Well, the Committee of the Sydney Synod reported: (1) That the table of kindred and affinity is not a part of the Trayer Hook; (2j that the marriage of a person with his deceased wife's sister is valid in ttiis State; (3) that such marriage is not prohibited by the Holy Scriptures; and (4) that neither the contracting nor the celebration of such marriages is in ccctra-vention of any law of the church legally binding in this State. The Synod adopted this report by a large majority, and the Marriage Law Reform Association have done well to direct general attention to the significance of the decision. It was iu September last that the resolution was passed, and the 'Argus' at once pointed out that, henceforth any member of the Anglican communion in the Sydney diocese might contract the kind of marriage in question without incurring the risk of ecclesiastical displeasure. "Any condemna"tion which might have been supposed to ■"exist in the past is now authoritatively "annulled. Of course, the individual coii- " victions of clergymen are not interfered "with; they may refuse to celebrate such "marriages if their conscience so directs; " but. they can no longer base their refusal "upon the church's disapproval." It is noteworthy that the lay members of the Synod were specially outspoken in their advocacy of the proposed reform, one member pertinently and conclusively asking whetherthe Synod were prepared to take the "awrul responsibility" of applying to such marriages the name which ought logically to attach to them if the church's sanction wefe, withheld. The present object of the Marriage Law Reform Association is to induce other Anglican Synods to follow the progressive example of the oldest Australian diocese; and presume that the appeal is also addressed to the governing bodies of aay other denominations who are still inclined to assume a recalcitrant attitude towards the secular law. The secretary observes that the Sydney decision is thfe first of the kind to be formally adopted by any section of the Anglican Church in the Empire, and he expresses a hope that a similarly "conciliatory and sensible" course will "be followed in New Zealand. Sooner or later, it goes without saying, this hope will be realised, though the consummation may be delayed for some time by the influence of a reactionary section of the clergy. We wish specially to emphasise the following statement, which is quite irrefutable:

In the considerable period of twenty years during which unions of this class have been recognised in the southern islands no evidence of any kind has accumulated, nor, it is believed, can any be produced, tending to impugn the wisdom of the Legislature in sanctioning them. Neither moral nor social objections are anywhere perceived or alleged. Moreover, with the practically unanimous agreement of scholars as to the absence of any Biblical ground for depriving persons of their lights of conscience and freedom m the case, it is impossible for the church to offer any valid argument for maintaining a, prohibitorv canon, professedly depending upon Scnptural interpretation for its authority, but which every free Parliament, as well* as the learned universally, has, under the influence of rehVious considerations and after mature deliberation, declared untenable.

Finally, it is urged that by making the concession which has been judged proper and prudent by the Synod of the Sydney diocese the Anglicau Church of New" Zealand could lose nothing; whereas' "by respecting the popular intelligence and by "abandoning a rule which, the growth of "experience and knowledge have shown "to bo both ill-founded and unnecessary "she would add much to the loyalty of "those to whom her teaching should convincingly appeal." We trust, that steps will bo taken to bring the matter before the diocesan Synods, and also before, the General Synod, who are to meet in the early part, of next year.