The Langworthy Marriage Bill.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6038, 21 September 1887, Page 3

The Langworthy Marriage Bill.

The Spectator says: — "The Marriages Confirjnation (Antwerp) Bill, intended to [ legalise Mrs Langworthy's marriage, now j before Parliament, raises some very important legislative problems. When the regulations made by Parliament for the marriages of British subjects abroad are j not complied with, has Parliament any i business to render valid a marriage, even notwithstanding that one of the parties fully believed that the ceremony was being duly performed ? On the whole, we think the true principle 13 that such marriages ought to be confirmed by ex post facto Acts of legislation. This is certainly the principle upon which Parliament has acted when legalising marriages improperly solemnized at foreign Consulates, as, for instance, by the Odessa Marriage Act, 1867, or by the Acts legalising marriages contracted in unlicensed chapels. If Parliament is satisfied that a marriage, though bad through neglect or default, was in no sense a mock marriage— that is, a marriage recognised as a sham by both sides — it has not only a right to render such a marriage valid, but exercises its powers wisely by doing so."