that they lived in Scotland Twentyone Days preceding such Marriage, conclusive as to its Validity.

Persons

forging such Entry or Signature liable to Transportation.

Persons making false Statements liable to

Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute shall certify the same under his Hand,
and shall thereupon grant Warrant to the Registrar of the Parish or
Burgh in which the Marriage was contracted, who shall forthwith enter
such Marriage in the Register of Marriages kept by him in Terms of
an Act of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of Her present 5
Majesty, Chapter Eighty; and any certified Copy of such Entry,
signed by such Registrar, and which such Registrar is hereby required
and empowered to give, charging for the same the Sum of Five
Shillings, shall be received in Evidence of such Marriage, and of such
previous living Twenty-one Days in Scotland, and shall be conclusive 10
as to the Fact of such previous living and as to the Validity of such
Marriage under the Provisions of this Act in all Courts in the United
Kingdom and Dominions thereunto belonging, and to all Intents and
Purposes whatsoever.

III. If any Person other than the Registrar shall make such Entry 15 in the Register, or shall wilfully forge or fabricate such Entry therein, or the Handwriting of such Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute to any Warrant or Certificate touching such Marriage or touching such Entry, such Person shall be deemed guilty of Forgery, and being duly convicted thereof, shall be transported for Life or for such Term 20 of Years as to the Court which shall try the same shall appear fit.

IV. Every Person who shall knowingly and wilfully make or cause to be made any false Statement for the Purpose of obtaining any such Certificate or Warrant as aforesaid from the Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute, Transporta- shall be deemed guilty of an Offence, and on Conviction shall be 25 prisonment. punishable by Transportation for a Period not exceeding Seven Years, or by Imprisonment for a Period not exceeding Two Years.

tion or Im

A

BILL

[AS AMENDED IN COMMITTEE]

INTITULED

An Act for amending

W

the Law of Marriage in Scotland.

[Note.-Clause A. was added in Committee.]

HEREAS it is expedient to amend the Law touching Preamble. Marriages in Scotland: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,

5 in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:

Circum

I. After the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight Declaring hundred and fifty-six no irregular Marriage contracted in Scotland under what by Declaration, Acknowledgment, or Ceremony shall be valid, unless stances Mar10 One of the Parties had at the Date thereof his or her most usual riages solemPlace of Residence there, or had lived in Scotland for Twenty-one Scotland Days next preceding such Marriage; any Law, Custom, or Usage shall be to the contrary notwithstanding.

nized in

valid.

II. If any Persons who shall have contracted an irregular Marriage Certificated 15 in Scotland after the Day and Year aforesaid shall within Three Copy of Entry by Months thereafter present a joint Application for a Warrant to register Sheriff such Marriage to the Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute of the County Parties were where such Marriage was contracted, and shall prove to his Satis- married, and

Depute that

faction that they have been married to one another, and that One of
them had lived in Scotland for Twenty-one Days next preceding
such Marriage, or had his or her most usual Residence in Scotland at
the Date thereof, such Sheriff or Sheriff Substitute shall certify the
same under his Hand, and shall thereupon grant Warrant to the Re- 5
gistrar of the Parish or Burgh in which the Marriage was contracted,
who shall forthwith enter such Marriage in the Register of Marriages
kept by him in Terms of an Act of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter Eighty; and any certified
Copy of such Entry, signed by such Register, and which such Re- 10
gistrar is hereby required and empowered to give, charging for the
same the Sum of Five Shillings, shall be received in Evidence of such
Marriage, and of such Residence or of such previous living Twenty-
one Days in Scotland, in all Courts in the United Kingdom and Do-
minions thereunto belonging, to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever. 15

III. It shall not be lawful, after the Date aforesaid, to convict any Parties of having irregularly contracted Marriage unless there shall be adduced to the Justice or Justices of the Peace, Magistrate or Magistrates, before whom the Complaint against such Parties has been brought, sufficient Proof other than the Acknowledgment of such 20 Parties that One of them had at the Date thereof his or her most usual Residence in Scotland, or had lived in Scotland for Twenty-one Days next preceding such Marriage; nor shall it be lawful for any Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland to register any Marriage under the Provisions of the said recited Act on the Production 25 of an Extract of a Conviction for having irregularly contracted Marriage, unless such Conviction shall bear that such sufficient Proof as aforesaid was so adduced.