230th Report by the Ecclesiastical
Committee
1. The Ecclesiastical Committee has met and
considered the Church of England Marriage (Amendment) Measure
referred to it under the provisions of the Church of England Assembly
(Powers) Act 1919.
2. The Measure makes a number of changes to
the law relating to marriage according to the rites of the Church
of England.
3. Section 1 of the Measure amends the Church
of England Marriage Measure 2008 so that persons who wish to marry
on the basis of a qualifying connection with a parish are put
in an equivalent position to those who marry on the basis of residence
in the parish or of being habitual worshippers there.
4. Section 2 makes some changes to the procedure
relating to the publication of banns. The Measure provides for
an optional alternative form of words to that contained in the
Book of Common Prayer and for banns to be published at the "principal
service" (rather than, as at present, at "morning service")
and, as an option, additionally at any other service on the Sunday
in question.
5. The Comments and Explanations printed with
this report give further details of the provisions of this Measure
and the background to it.
6. The Committee is of the opinion that
the Measure is expedient.
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