Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character, Life, And Times Of His Late Royal. Highness , By The Public Press.
Dr . Lushington , the eminent civilian , and to Mr . Griffith Richards , of the Chancery bar , and their opinion being decidedly and unequivocally in favor of the validity of the marriage , he , under tlieir advice , " filed a bill in Chancery to perpetuate the evidence of the clergyman , a minister of the church of England , then in advanced years , by whom his illustrious parents were married at Rome , in order that he might avail himself
of the same at any time , should it be requisite , in the establishment of his legitimacy . The following was the nature of the bill : —After stating the fact of the marriage at Rome—certain circumstances respecting the landed property of which his mother was seised in . her lifetime ; also the creation of his royal father , as Dukeof Sussex , Earlof Inverness , and Baron Arklowwith remainder to the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten ;
, and that the clergyman by whom the marriage ceremony was performed at Rome , was then upwards of eighty years of age—it submitted that Sir Augustus D'Este is entitled to examine witnesses to prove the said marriage , and that it was good and valid ; and to perpetuate the testimony of such witnesses , botli as to the said marriage and the other matters and things aforesaid , in order that he may have the benefit of ¦
such testimony as occasion may require ; ' to the end thereof , that the testimony of the witnesses may be preserved and perpetuated ; and that he may be at liberty , at all future occasions , to read and make use of the
same as he may be advised . ' And then he prayed the Attorney-general may be ordered to appear , answer , and abide the direction of the court . " Under this bill , Mr . John Shafter and Mr . Charles Edward Jerningham , of the Chancery bar , and Messrs . Clowes and Worship , were appointed , and have since acted as commissioners . The following admirable view of the subject , and which , as the author very truly states ,
appears to have escaped the attention of all former writers on the point we extract from the Law Magazine , above cited : — - Previously to the year 1754 , marriage was lawfully contracted in England , as at this day in Scotland , by persons entering into an agreement immediately to become husband and wife ; or by an engagement to become husband and wife at a future time , if that promise was followed by
consummation . In 1754 , it was enacted , by the statute 26 Geo . II ., c . 33 ., that marriage should be lawfully solemnised only in a church , after publication of bans , or with a license ; hut by this act it is provided that it is not to extend to the marriage of the royal family , or to marriages solemnised beyond the seas . The royal family were thus placed in a singular predicament . Whilst the solemnities of the church were requisite to the
marriage of the people , the members of the royal family might contract matrimony by the informal means which the ancient law allowed generally . Then came the Royal Marriage Act ( 12 Geo . III ., c . 11 . ) which , as the preamble declares , was " to supply the defect of the laws then in
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Character, Life, And Times Of His Late Royal. Highness , By The Public Press.
Dr . Lushington , the eminent civilian , and to Mr . Griffith Richards , of the Chancery bar , and their opinion being decidedly and unequivocally in favor of the validity of the marriage , he , under tlieir advice , " filed a bill in Chancery to perpetuate the evidence of the clergyman , a minister of the church of England , then in advanced years , by whom his illustrious parents were married at Rome , in order that he might avail himself
of the same at any time , should it be requisite , in the establishment of his legitimacy . The following was the nature of the bill : —After stating the fact of the marriage at Rome—certain circumstances respecting the landed property of which his mother was seised in . her lifetime ; also the creation of his royal father , as Dukeof Sussex , Earlof Inverness , and Baron Arklowwith remainder to the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten ;
, and that the clergyman by whom the marriage ceremony was performed at Rome , was then upwards of eighty years of age—it submitted that Sir Augustus D'Este is entitled to examine witnesses to prove the said marriage , and that it was good and valid ; and to perpetuate the testimony of such witnesses , botli as to the said marriage and the other matters and things aforesaid , in order that he may have the benefit of ¦
such testimony as occasion may require ; ' to the end thereof , that the testimony of the witnesses may be preserved and perpetuated ; and that he may be at liberty , at all future occasions , to read and make use of the
same as he may be advised . ' And then he prayed the Attorney-general may be ordered to appear , answer , and abide the direction of the court . " Under this bill , Mr . John Shafter and Mr . Charles Edward Jerningham , of the Chancery bar , and Messrs . Clowes and Worship , were appointed , and have since acted as commissioners . The following admirable view of the subject , and which , as the author very truly states ,
appears to have escaped the attention of all former writers on the point we extract from the Law Magazine , above cited : — - Previously to the year 1754 , marriage was lawfully contracted in England , as at this day in Scotland , by persons entering into an agreement immediately to become husband and wife ; or by an engagement to become husband and wife at a future time , if that promise was followed by
consummation . In 1754 , it was enacted , by the statute 26 Geo . II ., c . 33 ., that marriage should be lawfully solemnised only in a church , after publication of bans , or with a license ; hut by this act it is provided that it is not to extend to the marriage of the royal family , or to marriages solemnised beyond the seas . The royal family were thus placed in a singular predicament . Whilst the solemnities of the church were requisite to the
marriage of the people , the members of the royal family might contract matrimony by the informal means which the ancient law allowed generally . Then came the Royal Marriage Act ( 12 Geo . III ., c . 11 . ) which , as the preamble declares , was " to supply the defect of the laws then in