By the marriage act, 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 85, s. 39, "every person who 6 & 7 Wm. 4, after the said first day of March (1837), shall knowingly and wilfully c. 85. Persons unduly solemnize any marriage in England, except by special license, in solemnizing any other place than a church or chapel in which marriages may be marriage solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England, or than guilty of felony. the registered building or office specified in the notice and certificate as aforesaid, shall be guilty of felony, (except in the case of a marriage between two of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, according to the usages of the said society, or between two persons professing the Jewish religion, according to the usages of the Jews,) and every person who in any such registered building or office shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize any marriage in the absence of a registrar of the district in which such registered building or office is situated, shall be guilty of felony and every person who shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize any marriage in England after the said first day of March, (except by license,) within twentyone days after the entry of the notice to the superintendent registrar as aforesaid, or if the marriage is by license, within seven days after such entry, or after three calendar months after such entry, shall be guilty of felony." (p) By sec. 40, "Every superintendent registrar who shall knowingly Superintenand wilfully issue any certificate for marriage after the expiration of dent registrars three calendar months after the notice shall have been entered by certificates unduly issuing him as aforesaid, or any certificate for marriage by license before the guilty of felony. expiration of seven days after the entry of the notice, or any certificate for marriage without license before the expiration of twenty-one days after the entry of the notice, or any certificate, the issue of which shall have been forbidden as aforesaid, by any person authorized to forbid the issue of the registrar's certificate, or who shall knowingly and wilfully register any marriage herein declared to be null and void, and every registrar who shall knowingly and wilfully issue any license for marriage after the expiration of three calendar months after the notice shall have been entered by the registrar as aforesaid, or who shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize in his office any marriage herein declared to be null and void, shall be guilty of felony.” (q) By sec. 41, "Every prosecution under this act shall be commenced within the space of three years after the offence committed." By sec. 42, "If any person shall knowingly and wilfully inter- Marriages marry after the said first day of March, under the provisions of this void if unduly act, in any place other than the church, chapel, registered building, with the know (p) This is a felony for which no punishment is provided, it is therefore punishable under the 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 28, s. 8, (ante, p. 38), and sec. 9, and 1 Vict. c. 90, s. 5, (ante, p. 65, note (t)). The principals in the second degree are punishable in the same manner as the principals in the first degree (ante, p. 65, note (t)), and as there is no provision for the punishment of accessories, they are punishable under the same clauses as the principals in the first degree. The result is that the principals in the first and second degree, and the accessories are all punishable alike, with transportation beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or im prisonment for any term not exceeding two (g) See note (p), supra, and see the other solemnized ledge of both parties. or office, or other place specified in the notice and certificate aforesaid, or without due notice to the superintendent registrar, or without certificate of notice duly issued, or without license, in case a license is necessary under this act, or in the absence of a registrar or superintendent registrar, where the presence of a registrar or superintendent registrar is necessary under this act, the marriage of such persons, except in any case hereinafter excepted, shall be null and void; provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to annul any marriage legally solemnized according to the provisions of an act passed in the fourth year of his late Majesty George the 4 Geo. 4, c. 76. Fourth, entituled, An act for amending the laws respecting the solemnization of marriages in England.' In cases of fraudulent marriages, the guilty party to forfeit all property accruing from the marriage, as in 4 Geo. 4, c. 76. Superinten. By sec. 43, "If any valid marriage shall be had under the provisions of this act, by means of any wilfully false notice, certificate, or declaration made by either party to such marriage, as to any matter to which a notice, certificate, or declaration is herein required, it shall be lawful for his Majesty's Attorney General or Solicitor General to sue for a forfeiture of all estate and interest in any property accruing to the offending party by such marriage; and the proceedings thereupon and consequences thereof shall be the same as are provided in the like case with regard to marriages solemnized by license before the passing of this act according to the rites of the Church of England." By the 1 Vict. c. 22, sec. 4, "Every superintendent registrar, dent registrars who shall knowingly and wilfully issue any license for marriage after unduly issuing the expiration of three calendar months after the notice shall have been entered by the superintendent registrar, as provided by the said act for marriages, (r) or who shall knowingly and wilfully solemnize, or permit to be solemnized in his office any marriage in the last recited act declared to be null and void, shall be guilty of felony." (s) licenses, or solemnizing marriages, guilty of felony. 12 Geo. 3, c. 11. Marriages of the royal family not to be had without the consent of the king, &c. The 12 Geo. 3, c. 11, confirms the prerogative of the crown to superintend and approve of the marriages of the royal family. (ss) The first section enacts, "That no descendant of the body of King George the Second, male or female, (other than the issue of princesses who may have married, or may hereafter marry, into foreign families,) shall be capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of his Majesty, his heirs, or successors, signified under the great seal, and declared in council; (which consent, to preserve the memory thereof, is hereby directed to be set out in the license and register of marriage, and to be entered in the books of the privy council,) and that every marriage or matrimonial contract of any such descendant, without such consent first had and obtained, shall be null and void to all intents and purposes Except under whatsoever." Provision is then made for a marriage, without the particular royal consent, of any such descendant, being above twenty-five years circumstances. of age, after notice to the privy council, and the expiration of twelve months after such notice; in case the two houses of Parliament do not before that time expressly declare their disapprobation of the marriage. (t) The third section of the statute enacts, "That every person who shall knowingly or wilfully presume to solemnize, or to Any persons solemnizing or (r) 6 & 7 Wm. 4, c. 85. (s) See note (p), supra, p. 713. (ss) 1 East, P. C. c. 13, s. 7, p. 478. (t) Sec. 2. without such assist, or to be present at the celebration of any marriage, with any assisting at such descendant, or at his or her making any matrimonial contract, marriages without such consent as aforesaid first had and obtained, except consent, where in the case above-mentioned, shall, being duly convicted thereof, such consent incur and suffer the pains and penalties, ordained and provided by is necessary, the statute of provision and præmunire made in the sixteenth year of nire. the reign of Richard the Second." incur a præmu It may be useful to notice some Irish statutes, relating to the sub- Irish statutes. ject of this chapter. : c. 34. The 9 Geo. 2, c. 11, enacts, that persons of full age marrying, 9 Geo. 2, c. 11. or contracting to marry, persons under the age of twenty-one without the consent of the father, guardian, or Lord Chancellor, shall forfeit 500l., if the estate of the person married is of the value of 10,000; and shall forfeit 2001. if the estate of the person married is under 10,000%. and shall suffer a year's imprisonment. (t) The 10 Geo. 4, c. 34, which relates to Ireland only, by sec. 22, 10 Geo. 4, enacts that, "If any person shall by force take or carry away any woman or girl against her consent, with intent that such person or any duction of other person shall marry or defile her, every such offender, and every women accessory before the fact to such offence shall be guilty of felony, and, in Ireland. being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon, and every accessory after the fact to such offence, shall be guilty of felony; and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for life or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned, with or without hard labour, for any term not exceeding three years." Forcible ab girl under 18 years of age in Ireland. By sec. 23," When any unmarried girl under the age of eighteen Abduction of shall have any interest, whether legal or equitable, present or fu- an unmarried ture, absolute, conditional, or contingent, in any real or personal estate, or shall be an heiress presumptive or next of kin to any one having such interest, if any person shall fraudulently allure, take, or convey away, or cause to be allured, taken, or conveyed away, such girl out of the possession and against the will of her father or mother, or of any other person having the lawful care or charge of her, and shall contract matrimony with her, or shall defile her, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to such imprisonment, not exceeding the term of three years, as the Court shall award, and shall be incapable of taking any estate or interest, legal or equitable, in any real or personal property of such girl; and such property shall, upon such conviction, be vested, from the time of such marriage, in such trustees as the Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Commissioners for the custody of the Great Seal in Ireland shall appoint, for the sole and separate use of such girl, in the like manner as if such marriage had not taken place." By sec. 24, "If any person shall unlawfully take or cause to be taken any unmarried girl under the age of sixteen years, out of the possession and against the will of her father or mother, or of any other person having the lawful care or charge of her, every such of fender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to suffer such punishment, by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the Court shall award." (t) 5 Ev. Col. Stat. 341, referring to 2 Gabbett, 913, 916. The forfeitures are to be recovered by popular action. Abduction of an unmarried girl under sixteen in Ireland. CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. OF KIDNAPPING, AND CHILD-STEALING. Carrying away or secreting any person. Forcible abduction of persons, and sending them into other countries. 31 Car. 2, c. 2, s. 12. The sending persons prisoners out of England, &c., made punishable by disability to hold office, and by the pains of præmunire, &c. SECT. I Of Kidnapping. THE stealing and carrying away, or secreting of any person, sometimes called kidnapping, is an offence, at common law, punishable by fine and imprisonment. (a) The forcible abduction or stealing and carrying away of any person, by sending him from his own country into some other, or to parts beyond the seas, whereby he is deprived of the friendly assistance of the laws to redeem him from such his captivity, is properly called kidnapping, and is an offence of a very aggravated description. Its punishment at common law is, however, no more than fine and imprisonment; though, as has been remarked concerning it, the offence is of such primary magnitude that it might well have been substituted upon the roll of capital crimes, in the place of many others, which are there to be found. (b) no The 31 Car. 2, c. 2, (the celebrated Habeas Corpus act) makes provision against any inhabitant of Great Britain being sent prisoner to foreign countries. The twelfth section enacts, that subject of this realm, being an inhabitant or resiant of England, Wales, or the town of Berwick upon Tweed, shall be sent prisoner into Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Tangier, or into parts, garrisons, islands, or places beyond the seas, within or without the dominions of his Majesty. Such imprisonment is then declared to be illegal; and an action for false imprisonment is given to the party, with treble costs, and damages not less than five hundred pounds. The section then proceeds thus:-"And the person or persons who shall knowingly frame, contrive, write, seal or countersign, any warrant for such commitment, detainer, or transportation, or shall so commit, detain, imprison, or transport, any person or persons, contrary to this act, or be any ways advising, aiding, or (a) 1 East, P. C. c. 9, s. 3, p. 429, 430. Rex v. Grey, T. Raym. 473. Comb. 10. The pillory was also part of the punishment before the 56 Geo. 3, c. 138. (b) 1 East, P. C. c. 9, s. 4, p. 430. assisting therein," being lawfully convicted thereof, shall be disabled from thenceforth to bear any office of trust or profit within England, &c. or the dominions thereunto belonging, and shall incur the pains, &c. of the statute of præmunire, 16 R. 2, and shall be incapable of any pardon from the King of such forfeitures or disabilities. There are some exceptions in the act relating to the transportation of felons: and the sixteenth section provides, that offenders may be sent to be tried where their offences were committed, and where they ought to be tried. The seventeenth section enacts, that prosecutions for offences against the act must be within two years after the offence committed, if the party grieved be not then in prison; and if he be in prison, then within two years after his decease, or delivery out of prison, which shall first happen. 9 Geo. 4, c. 31, s. 30. Punishment for the master of a merchant vessel forcing his seamen on shore, or refus The 11 & 12 Wm. 3, c. 7, s. 18, related to the forcing men on shore, or refusing to bring them again to their own country, by masters of merchant vessels. But it was repealed by the 9 Geo. 4, c. 31; and by sec. 30 of that statute, 'if any master of a merchant vessel shall, during his being abroad, force any man on shore, or wilfully leave him behind in any of his Majesty's colonies, or elsewhere, or shall refuse to bring home with him again all such of the men whom he carried out with him, as are in a condition to return when he shall be ready to proceed on his homeward bound voyage, ing to bring every such master shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being law- them home. fully convicted thereof, shall be imprisoned for such term as the Mode of trial, Court shall award; and all such offences may be prosecuted by indictment, or by information at the suit of his Majesty's Attorney General in the Court of King's Bench, and may be alleged in the indictment or information to have been committed at Westminster, in the county of Middlesex; and the said Court is hereby authorized to issue one or more commissions, if necessary, for the examination of witnesses abroad; and the depositions taken under the same shall be received in evidence on the trial of every such indictment or information." (c) The 5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 19, s. 40, (cc) reciting, that "great mischiefs have arisen from masters of merchant ships leaving seamen in foreign parts, who have thus been reduced to distress, and thereby tempted to become pirates, or otherwise misconduct themselves, and it is expedient to amend and enlarge the law in this behalf," enacts, "that if any master of a ship belonging to any subject of the United Kingdom shall force on shore and leave behind, or shall otherwise wilfully and wrongfully leave behind, on shore or at sea, in any place in or out of his Majesty's dominions, any person belonging to his crew, before the return to or arrival of such ship in the United Kingdom, or before the completion of the voyage or voyages for which such person shall have been engaged, whether such person shall have formed part of the original crew or not, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall suffer such punishment by fine or imprisonment, or both, as to the Court before which he shall be convicted shall seem meet; and the said offence may be prosecuted by information at the suit of the Attorney General on behalf of his Majesty, or by indictment or other (c) The Irish Act, 10 Geo. 4, c. 34, s. 39, is precisely similar, except that for the words " at Westminster, in the County of Middlesex," it has "in the County of (cc) This is an act of the United Kingdom. &c. 5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 19, s. 40. Forcing on shore, or leaving behind any person belong ing to the crew. |