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A notice in the form set out in Schedule to the Marriage Registration Act, 1 (19 & 20 Vict C 119), must be given to the superintendent registrar of the district where the parties applying for the certificate shall have dwelt for not less than seven days next preceding, or if the parties dwell in different districts, similar notices must be given to the superintendent registrar of each of such districts (Act of 1836, s 4). The notice describes the parties, and states the building within which the marriage is to be celebrated, and it must further contain a declaration that there is no lawful hindrance to the marriage (Act of 1856, s 2). The notice bo given is filed by the superintendent registrar, who also enters a true copy thereof in the marriage notice book he is required to keep, and in addition he affixes a copy of the notice in his office for twenty-One days, to give public intimation of the intended marriage. At the expiration of the twenty-one days, the certificate (see form in Schedule B to Act of 1856) is issued, unless in the meantime its issue has been duly forbidden (Act of 1856, s 9), or unless a caveat has been lodged and not been disposed of (s 13). The certificate, which is available for three calendar months from the date of the entry of the notice, may be issued for a marriage to be celebrated in any church or chapel belonging to the Church of England within the superintendent registrars district, if the parties could lawfully have been married therein after publication of banns ; but it should be noted that it is optional for a clergyman of the Church of England to accept the certificate in lieu of publication of banns. prev next |