DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 4

DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER.

To the colonial, discussion upon' the. question* of marriage with a deceased v wife's _ sister ; presents the same difficulties as discussion uponthe death of Queen Anne. But in the United Kingdom this question seems to have suffered from an ironical fate, for though an enabling' Bill has frequently been passed, by, the House of Commons and once— 1896 —by the House of Lords it is still absent from the statutes. Possibly the reign of Edward VII. will be more favourable to this muchdebated measure: than was the reign of Victoria; another attempt .will be made next month to ■ secure its passage. The King himself has always championed it and with his brothers regularly attended the House of Lords to vote in its favour. But the uncompromising resistance presented by the Bishops has generally defeated it, and on the one occasion when the Bishops were overpowered the Bill was included in the Slaughter; of the Innocents before it had gone through all the necessary formalities. As a result, the United Kingdom stands alone among Christian countries in this matter, a devoted isolation which is the pride of the upholders of canonical law and the anger of those most immediately interested who base their arguments upon literal consanguinity. It affords an eminent instance of the peculiar spirit of the British race, of unflinching adherence to conception of principle upon one side and of unfaltering determination to secure reform by legal and constitutional means upon the other. It is not improbable that the Bill may be carried this session and a contest which has lasted for more than fifty years be thus concluded. On the other hand it is not impossible that another fifty years may still see the British widower unable to marry his deceased wife's sister. The question is a strangely ancient one, doubtless due to a long-standing-confusion between canonical and statute law. In another form, the same question was raised by Henry, VIII., who had a tender conscience on the side of his inclinations. Before 1533, church-law- wholly governed all marriage of consanguinity and affinity. From that year until as late as 1835 marriages of " affi- 1 nity" were frequently contracted, but might be annulled. In 1835 Lord Lyndhurst secured the passage of a measure making all past marriages of "affinity" legal, but declared that all future marriages should be void. It is interesting to note that even at that time the House of Commons reluctantly agreed to the prohibition of mar-' riage with a deceased Avife's sister and once rejected it. An agitation for its repeal immediately arose and since 1849 hardly a Parliament has sat without considering and discussing the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. Since 1875 the House of Commons has been generally favourable and every British colony 8 speedily used its self-governing power to eliminate the prohibition.