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MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the Law with respect to Marriages between British
Subjects and Foreigners.
[29th November 1906]
Marriages of British subjects with foreigners abroad.

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 1

1.(1) Any British subject who desires to be married in a foreign
country to a foreigner according to the law of that country may,
if it is desired for the purpose of complying with the requirement
of the law of that country to obtain the certificate hereinafter
mentioned, give notice of the marriage, if resident in [any part of
the United Kingdom other than Scotland], to the registrar, and if
resident abroad, to the marriage officer, and apply to the registrar
or officer for a certificate that after proper notices have been
given no legal impediment to the marriage has been shown to the
registrar or officer to exist, and the registrar or officer shall,
after the conditions set out in the Schedule to this Act have been
complied with, give the certificate applied for, unless the
certificate is forbidden or a caveat is in operation as provided in
that Schedule, or some legal impediment to the marriage is shown to
the registrar or officer to exist.

Subs.(2) rep. by 1979 NI19 art.19(2) sch.2

(3) If any person enters a caveat on grounds which the registrar
or officer or, in case of appeal, the Registrar-General declares to
be frivolous, that person shall be liable to pay as a debt to the
applicant for the certificate such sum as the registrar or officer
or, in the case of appeal, the Registrar-General considers to be
proper compensation for the damage caused to the applicant by the
entering of the caveat.

(4) Such fees may be charged in respect of any notice of an
intended marriage, or any application for or grant of a certificate
or the entering of a caveat under this section, as may be fixed,
as respects certificates to be granted by or caveats entered with
registrars, by the Registrar-General, with the consent of His Majesty
in Council, and, as respects certificates to be granted by or
caveats entered with a marriage officer, as may be fixed by Order
under the [Consular Fees Act 1980].

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 2
Marriage of foreigners with British subjects in the United Kingdom.

2.(1) Where arrangements have been made to the satisfaction of His
Majesty with any foreign country for the issue by the proper
officers of that country, in the case of persons subject to the
marriage law of that country proposing to marry British subjects in
[any part of the United Kingdom other than Scotland], of
certificates that, after proper notices have been given, no
impediment according to the law of that country has been shown to
exist to the marriage, His Majesty may, by Order in Council, make
regulations

(a)requiring any person, subject to the marriage law of that foreign
country, who is to be married to a British subject in [any part
of the United Kingdom other than Scotland], to give notice of the
fact that he is subject to the marriage law of that country to
the person by or in the presence of whom the marriage is to be
solemnised; and

(b)forbidding any person to whom such a notice is given to
solemnise the marriage or to allow it to be solemnised until such
a certificate as aforesaid is produced to him.

(2) If any person knowingly acts in contravention of, or fails to
comply with, any such regulation, he shall be guilty of a
misdemeanour, and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one
hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one
year.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be taken to relate or have any
reference to any marriages between two persons professing the Jewish
religion solemnised according to the usages of the Jews in the
presence of the secretary of a synagogue authorised by either the
Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1836, or the Marriages (Ireland)
Act, 1844, or by the Marriage and Registration Act, 1856, to
register such a marriage, or of a deputy appointed by such
secretary by writing under his hand, and approved by the president
for the time of the London committee of deputies of the British
Jews by writing under his hand.

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 3
Power to make general regulations.

3. His Majesty may by Order in Council make general regulations
prescribing the forms to be used under this Act and making such
other provisions as seem necessary or expedient for the purposes of
this Act, and may by Order in Council revoke, alter, or add to
any Order in Council made under this Act.

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 4
Interpretation.

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

The expression "marriage officer" means a marriage officer for the
time being under the Foreign Marriage Act, 1892, and includes any
person for the time being empowered to register a marriage under
section eighteen of that Act.

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 6
Application to Ireland.

6. In the application of this Act to Ireland the expressions
"Registrar-General" and "registrar" mean respectively the
Registrar-General and registrar within the meaning of the Marriages
(Ireland) Act, 1844.

MARRIAGE WITH FOREIGNERS ACT 1906 - SECT 7
Short title.

7. This Act may be cited as the Marriage with Foreigners Act,
1906.

1. The applicant shall sign a notice stating the name, surname,
profession, condition, nationality, and residence of each of the
parties to the marriage, and whether each of the parties is or is
not a minor.

2. The applicant shall at the time of giving the notice make and
subscribe in a book to be kept by the registrar or officer for
the purpose an oath

(a)that the applicant believes that there is no impediment to the
marriage by reason of kindred or alliance, or otherwise; and

(b)that the applicant has for three weeks immediately preceding had
his usual residence within the district of the registrar or officer;
and

(c)if the applicant, 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 that there is no person having authority to give that
consent, as the case may be.

3. The registrar or officer shall file every such notice and keep
it with the archives of his office, and shall 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 copy of every such
notice, and shall keep it so posted up for at least twenty-one
days.

4. The book in which the notice is entered, and the copy posted
up, shall be open at all reasonable times without fee to the
inspection of any person.

5. Any person whose consent is required by law to marriages
solemnised in England may forbid the certificate by writing the word
"forbidden" opposite to the entry of the application 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
certificate.

6.(a) Any person may enter with the registrar or officer a caveat
against the granting of the certificate, signed by him or in his
behalf and stating his residence and the grounds of his objection.

(b) The registrar or officer shall examine into the matter of the
caveat and decide whether it ought to obstruct the giving of the
certificate or not, but he may if he thinks fit refer the matter
to the Registrar-General to decide. If the registrar or officer
decides the question himself, and decides that the caveat ought to
obstruct the granting of the certificate, the applicant for the
certificate may appeal to the Registrar-General in manner provided by
regulations made under this Act.

(c) The caveat shall cease to operate

(i)if withdrawn by the persons entering it; or

(ii)if it is decided by the registrar or officer or by the
Registrar-General on appeal that it ought not to obstruct the giving
of the certificate.