Marriage

As in most other jurisdictions, a breach of an agreement for marriage is no longer the basis of a civil claim in itself. Since 1984. However, other loss or damage resulting directly from the engagement, such as wasted expenditure, may be the subject of a civil claim.

Marriage comprises the voluntary union of one man and one woman for life, to the exclusion of all others. This is subject to laws on judicial separation and divorce. The principle, however, emphasises that the law does not recognise polygamous marriages, nor does it recognise same-sex marriages.

The formalities for marriage were modernised under the Marriage Northern Ireland Order, 2003. Marriages may take place under the auspices of a religious body or under the auspices of the state. They are respectively a religious marriage and a civil marriageThe Marriage (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 updates older complex and anomalous legislation on marriages. It seeks to provide an equal harmonious method of civil preliminaries applicable to religious marriage. This amends the different rules applicable to different denominations, which date from earlier legislation.

There is a shift in emphasis from the registration of preludes to the registration of officiants. Religious bodies may nominate persons to solemnize marriage. This limits, and this opens the possibility as to where marriages may take place subject to the consent of the officiants.

The legislation permits civil marriages to be conducted in places other than registration offices. This is subject to the control of the local registration district. Religious marriages continue to be valid, and the legislation makes minimal changes to the existing freedoms of denominations in relation to marriage ceremonies.

Parties who intend to marry in Northern Ireland are required to give notice of their intention to do so in a prescribed form accompanied by a prescribed fee. In certain cases, the marriage notice must be given in person to the registrar in the district where the marriage is to take place. In other cases, notice to other registrars will suffice.

The registrar is to keep a record of marriage notices. The registrar is to place on public display a list containing details of intended marriages in respect of which he has received a marriage notice. Persons who have reason to object to an intended marriage may inspect the register.

Persons giving marriage notice may be required to provide specified evidence in relation to their name and surname, age, marital and civil partnership status, and nationality.

Anytime before the solemnization of a marriage, a person may make an objection in writing. If the registrar is satisfied that the objection relates to a mere indescription or inaccuracy, he may notify the parties, make appropriate inquiries, or, with the approval of the Registrar General, make necessary corrections to documents relating to the marriage.

In other cases, the registrar shall notify the Registrar General of pending consideration, suspend the issue of the marriage schedule if not issued; in the case of a religious marriage, if the marriage schedule has been issued and it is practicable to do so, he shall notify the officiant and advise the officiant not to solemnize the marriage pending consideration of the objection.

If the Registrar General is satisfied there is a legal impediment to the marriage, he shall direct the registrar to notify the parties and take reasonable steps to ensure that the marriage does not take place.

If there is a legal impediment to a marriage, it would be void under family matrimonial provisions legislation: one of the parties is already married or a civil partner; one or both are under 16 at the date of solemnization; one or both are incapable of understanding the nature of a marriage ceremony or consenting to marriage; or both are of the same sex. An objection on the ground of understanding, etc., must be accompanied by a certificate by a medical practitioner.

After the registrar receives notice of marriage from both parties to an intended marriage, he is to complete a marriage schedule in the prescribed form if he is satisfied there is no legal impediment to the marriage or he is so directed by the Registrar General to proceed notwithstanding the objection. The marriage schedule is to be issued by the registrar to one or both of the parties to the intended marriage.

A religious marriage may be solemnized only on the date, by the officiant, and at the place specified in the marriage schedule. There is no obligation on the officiant to solemnize the marriage. A religious marriage may be solemnized by an officiant other than that specified. Regulations may provide for any case in which, for any reason, a marriage cannot be solemnized in accordance with the marriage schedule.

Where a person residing in Northern Ireland is a party to an intended marriage to be solemnized outside of the United Kingdom, and for the purpose of complying with the law of that country, a certificate is required of legal capacity to marry, from a competent authority in Northern Ireland. He may give the registrar a notice that the above provision shall apply as if the marriage was intended to be solemnized in the district.

If the registrar is satisfied, the person is not subject to any legal capacity under Northern Ireland law, which would prevent his marriage, he shall issue a certificate in the standard form that he is not known to be subject to such incapacity. The certificate is not to end until the notice period, which shall be prescribed above, in the case of a domestic marriage, has passed. There are similar provisions to that above for making objections.

The marriage may only be solemnized by an officiant or person appointed under legislation below. Religious bodies may apply to the Registrar General for a member named, over 21 years of age, to be registered as empowered to solemnize marriages in Northern Ireland. The Registrar General may refuse the application if he considers the body not to be a religious body; the marriage ceremony used by the body is inconsistent with the appropriate declaration; or the person named is not a fit and proper person to solemnize a marriage.

The appropriate declaration is a declaration made by the parties, in each other’s presence and those of the officiant and the witnesses, that they accept each other as husband and wife.

A religious marriage which may not be solemnized by an officiant unless the parties have produced to him a marriage schedule in respect of the marriage issued under the legislation; both parties to the marriage are present; and two persons professing to be over 15 are present as witnesses.

An officiant shall not solemnize a religious marriage except in accordance with a form of marriage which is recognized by the religious body of which he is a member and includes and is not inconsistent with a declaration above.

The following persons are to sign the marriage schedule after the solemnization of a religious marriage: both parties to the marriage, both witnesses, and the officiant.

The parties to the marriage are to arrange for the marriage schedule to be delivered to the registrar within three days of the marriage. The registrar shall register the marriage as soon as practicable after receiving the schedule.

If the marriage schedule has been lost, destroyed, or damaged, he may arrange for parties to complete a copy of the original marriage schedule and register the marriage accordingly.

Where after 21 days from a religious marriage as entered on the marriage schedule, the registrar has not received the marriage schedule, he may serve notice in the prescribed form on either of the parties to the marriage requiring that they arrange for the marriage schedule to be delivered within eight days. If the parties fail to comply with the notice, the registrar may serve a second notice requiring them to attend personally within eight days for the purpose of delivering the marriage schedule.

Where either of the parties to a civil marriage gives the registrar a medical statement, the marriage may be solemnized at the place where that party is with the approval of the Registrar General. A medical statement means a statement in the prescribed form that he is of the opinion at the time of the statement that, by reason of serious illness or serious bodily injury, the person ought not to be moved from the place where they are at that time, and it is likely that it will be the case for at least the following three months that, by reason of the illness or disability, the person ought not to be moved from that place.

A person may not solemnize a civil marriage unless he has available to him a marriage schedule; both parties are present; and two persons professing to be over 16 are witnesses.

A person shall not solemnize a civil marriage except in accordance with a form of ceremony of a secular nature that includes the appropriate declaration.

The appropriate declaration means a declaration by the parties, in the presence of each other, the witnesses, and the solemnizing person, that they accept each other as husband and wife. The above parties being parties to the marriage, witnesses, and the solemnizer, must sign the schedule.

Where two parties have gone through a marriage ceremony with each other outside the United Kingdom but are not, or are unable to prove the validity of marriage to each other, any registrar may, on application to him, solemnize their marriage as if they had not gone through that ceremony of marriage. The general provisions apply to the solemnization of such a marriage subject to variations as may be prescribed.

A person shall not solemnize the marriage of a person between the age of 16 and 18 unless the following consents have been given or ordered. The consents are the consents of each parent of the young person who has parental responsibility for him and each guardian. Where a residence order is in force in relation to a young person, the consent of the person with whom he lives is required. Where a care order is in force, a consent of the Health and Social Services Board or Health and Social Care Trust designated in the order is required.

The consents are to be in the prescribed form and are to be produced before the issue of the marriage schedule. The county court may make an order dispensing with consent in relation to young persons if it is satisfied that the proposed marriage is in the best interest of the young persons and either it is not reasonably practicable to obtain the consent, the person whose consent is required refuses to consent or there is uncertainty as to whose consent is required.

An application for an order may be made on behalf of the young person or any person intending to marry a young person. Consents are to be sent to the registrar and recorded.

The validity of a legal marriage is not to be questioned in legal proceedings commenced at any time after the particulars are registered on the ground of contravention of any provision in the order. This does not prejudice offenses. It does not apply where both parties were not present at the marriage ceremony.

The marriage is effective as of the time of the mutual declaration in the presence of the solemnizer or officiant and two witnesses.

If a person by whom a marriage is to be solemnized considers it necessary or desirable, he may make use of the provisions of an interpreter. He must not be a party or witness to the marriage at the marriage ceremony. The interpreter shall, before the marriage ceremony, sign a statement that he understands and is able to converse in any language in respect of which he is to act as an interpreter; immediately after the ceremony, he is to give the person solemnizing the marriage a certificate in English and signed by the interpreter that he has faithfully acted as an interpreter at the ceremony.