Marriage Amendment Act 1925 (NSW)

MARRIAGE AMENDMENT ACT.

Act No. 1, 1925.

An Act to declare the impugning of marriages cele­ brated in accordance with the Marriage Act, 1899,to be unlawful; to make certain provisions as to certificates of marriage ; to declare mar­ riages between a woman and her deceased husband's brother valid in law; to amend the Marriage Act, 1899, and certain other Acts ; and for purposes connected therewith. [Assented to, 4th April, 1925.]

lative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legis­

Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—

1 . This Act may be cited as the " Marriage Amend­ ment Act, 1925," and shall be read with the Marriage Act, 1899, hereinafter called the Principal Act.

any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. have been and to be valid and of full force and effect

2 . Part IV of the Principal Act, is amended by inserting the following new section next after section eighteen :—

18A. (1) Every marriage, otherwise lawful, cele­ brated in New South Wales before or after the passing of the Marriage Amendment Act, 1925. between any person and the widow of his deceased brother shall be deemed and is hereby declared to

(2) This section shall not validate any such marriage where a decree of nullity has, prior to the passing of the Marriage Amendment Act, 1925, been pronounced in respect thereof by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(3) Any petition for such a decree pending at the said date may he proceeded with and deter­ mined as if this section had not been passed.

3 . Part V I I of the Principal Act is amended by the

addition at the end of the following new sections :—

28. (1) Every person commits an offence against this Act, and is liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, either alone or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, who—

(a)	alleges, expressly or by implication, that any persons lawfully married are not truly husband and wife; or
(b)	alleges, expressly or by implication, that the issue of any lawful marriage is illegitimate or born out of true wedlock.

(2) " Alleges " in this section means making any verbal statement, or publishing or issuing any printed or written statement, or in any manner authorising the making of any verbal statement, or in any manner authorising or being party to the publication or issue of any printed or written

statement.

(3) A person shall not be deemed to make an allegation contrary to the provisions of this section by reason only of using in the solemnisation of a marriage a form of marriage service which at the commencement of the Marriage Amendment Act, 1925, was in use by the religious denomination to which such person belongs, or by reason only of the printing or issue of any book containing a copy of a form of marriage service in use at the commencement of the said Act by any religious denomination.

29. Every minister or person officiating as such commits an offence against this Act and is liable upon summary conviction to a penalty not exceed­ ing one hundred pounds, either alone or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, who, having performed any ceremony of marriage between two persons who are already married in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and whose marriage has not been dissolved—

(a)	uses the form of certificate of marriage as set out in the Fourth Schedule to this
Ac t ; or
(b)	certifies that a marriage has been celebrated by him between the said persons, without in any certificate he may give making reference to the fact that the parties have already been lawfully married.

30. (1) The Governor may, by notification in the Gazette, deprive any person of the right to celebrate marriages under this Act, where such person—

(a)	is convicted of any felony or misdemeanour, or of any breach of this Ac t ; or
(b)	is guilty of any misconduct in the celebration of any marriage ; or
(c)	is, in the opinion of the Minister, making a business of celebrating marriages for the purpose of profit or gain, irrespective of
of religion; carrying: out the ordinary duties of a minister

and thereupon the Registrar-General shall cause; the name of such person to be removed from the register kept in his office.

(2) The Governor may in like manner annul any such deprivation.

31. (1) Any person convicted of an offence under either section twenty-eight or section twenty-nine of this Act shall be disqualified under this Act from celebrating marriages.

(2) The clerk of the court in which the accused is convicted shall forward to the Registrar- General a certificate of the conviction.

(3) The certificate shall not be so forwarded until the expiration of the time limited for the initiation of any proceedings by way of appeal from the conviction.

(4) If any such proceedings are initiated, the certificate shall not be so forwarded until the proceedings are finally disposed of, and if the conviction is quashed or set aside, shall not be so forwarded.

(5) Upon receipt of the certificate the Registrar-General shall, if the person convicted is a person registered in his office as a minister of religion ordinarily officiating as such under this Act, cause the name of the person convicted to be removed from the register, and shall notify the fact of the removal in the Gazette.

4.  Part II of the Principal Act is amended— (a) (i) by inserting in paragraph (c) of section

nine after the words "wr i t ten consent" the words " of a police or stipendiary magistrate or " ; and

(ii)   by inserting in the same paragraph before

the word " j u s t i c e " where it secondly

occurs the words " magistrate or " ;

(b) by adding at the end of the same section the following proviso:—

Provided that where the custody of the party

has been committed to the mother by a court of competent jurisdiction or by agreement, or

where the parents of the party are living apart

and an order for the maintenance of the mother has been made against the father, the marriage may be celebrated upon the produc­ tion of the written consent of the mother of the party.

COAL