Church of England Marriage Measure: 225th report

This Measure amends the law so as to make it easier for those who have certain types of clearly defined connections with a parish to marry there even though they are not parishioners. It does this principally by extending to them the parishioner’s legal right to marry in the parish church. The qualifying connections are that: the person concerned was baptised or prepared for confirmation in the parish; the person concerned or a parent of that person has had his or her usual place of residence in the parish for a period of at least 6 months, or has habitually attended public worship in the parish for that length of time; a parent or grandparent of the person concerned was married in the parish. The Ecclesiastical Committee is of the opinion that the Measure is expedient. The bulk of the report contains comments and explanations from the General Synod. The text of the Measure is contained in ‘HL 96-I/HC 511’ (ISBN 9780104012673).