SCOTS LAW AND ENGLISH
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—In his letter under this heading in your issue of June 23rd Mr. W. A. Millar refers to marriages hitherto styled " irregular," and says : " The Gretna Green problem is purely a local one, which ought to be, and could be, dealt with by a particular remedy applied to that parish." Mr. Millar is quite mistaken, though it is to be feared that he errs in company with many other people equally misinformed. Gretna, which is the correct name of the parish (wherein Gretna Green is only a cluster of houses), has no monopoly in such marriage transactions -as have caused ground for complaint. It is only one point where England marches with Scotland. If a law were enacted affecting Gretna alone to abolish abuses admitted by Mr. Millar, similar transactions might take place with like evil consequences just as easily at any other point of the border line. They are possible indeed, and actually do occur, any- where in Scotland. The remedy, to be effectual, must there- fore be one capable of being applied throughout the whole of Scotland from the Solway to the Shetlands.—Yours, &c.,
ARTHUR POLLOIC SYM.
z8 Wester Oates Gardens, Edinburgh, I2.
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