| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 26 Geo. 2. c. 33 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 June 1753 |
| Commencement | 25 March 1754 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Marriage Act 1823, s. 1 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753, also called the Marriage Act 1753, long title "An Act for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage", popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act (26 Geo. 2. c. 33), was the first statutory legislation in England and Wales to require a formal ceremony of marriage. It came into force on 25 March 1754. The Act contributed to a dispute about the validity of a Scottish marriage,[1] although pressure to address the problem of irregular marriages had been growing for some time.[2]
- ^ Leneman, Leah (Spring 1999). "The Scottish Case That Led to Hardwicke's Marriage Act". Law and History Review. 17 (1). University of Illinois Press: 161–169. doi:10.2307/744190. JSTOR 744190. S2CID 144650291.
- ^ Probert, Rebecca, Marriage Law & Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment (CUP, 2009) chapter 5