Commentary on Sections Schedule 27 - Minor and consequential amendments Paragraphs 13 to 17 - Marriage Act 1949 (c. 76)
927.Paragraphs 13 and 17 amend section 1 of and Schedule 1 to the Marriage Act 1949. Currently, section 1 and Schedule 1 prohibit or restrict marriage between people related within specified degrees by parentage, descent or marriage. Schedule 1 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 provides for parallel prohibitions and restrictions to apply to civil partnerships. Paragraphs 13 and 17 of this Schedule provide for the extension of the prohibitions and restrictions that apply to marriage to include civil partnership.
928.Section 27 of the Marriage Act 1949 sets out the information to be recorded on a notice of marriage in respect of the couple. Section 28A sets out the evidence that a superintendent registrar may require the person giving the notice of marriage to produce. One of the items of information and one of the pieces of evidence is that relating to the marital status of the person giving notice of marriage. The amendments made by paragraphs 14 and 15 amend these two sections so that information may also be recorded and evidence required where a person wishing to give a notice of marriage has previously formed a civil partnership.
929.Paragraph 16 amends section 78(1) (interpretation) of the Marriage Act 1949 to make clear that the term “child”, when used in the Act to express a relationship, applies to persons over, as well as persons under, the age of 18.