" CIVIL MARRIAGE IN IRELAND."
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, —I cannot think that the defects in the Irish Marriage Law, which you lately pointed out as practically nullifying " Civil Marriage " in Ireland, have been repaired, or even sensibly miti- gated, by the Act which, as you stated last week, was passed in the closing days of the Session. The remedial legislation, so rapidly and silently agreed upon, covers only a small part—and that in an imperfect wayof " the evil complained of."
The difficulty to which you drew attention in the law as it stood a few weeks ago was that the legislation of 1864 made civil marriage impossible in Ireland, requiring proof of regular attend- ance on religious observances, with particulars of the place of worship and the minister's name. A subordinate consequence of these provisions was that Separatists, Plymouth Brethren, and others who regularly attended public worship, but had no pre- siding minister, were unable to get married before the Registrar.
The latter class has now been relieved, but in a most disagree- able way, the notice by advertisement in the local newspaper being no very pleasing preliminary to marriage.
But the main evil remains untouched. Persons who do not regularly attend a place of worship cannot be married before the Registrar in Ireland. The additional exceptions now placed on a like footing with the Quakers will only tend to enforce a stricter interpretation of the law against all others. In fact, the influence of the Roman Catholic clergy is still powerful to nullify civil marriage in Ireland, and if the recent Act were to be regarded as a final remedy it would only intensify the existing evils.—I am,
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