The Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 1996

• Citation: S.I. 1996/2558
• Sections: 2

Section 1 Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st November 1996.

Section 2 Amendment of the Registration of Marriages Regulations 1986

In the Registration of Marriages Regulations 1986 , in form 12 in Schedule 1 (instructions for the solemnization of a marriage in a registered building without the presence of a registrar), after paragraph 5 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

(5A) If the marriage is solemnized on or after 1st February 1997 , as an alternative to the declaration set out in paragraph 5, the persons contracting the marriage may make the declaration—

(a) by saying “I declare that I know of no legal reason why I [ name ] may not be joined in marriage to [ name ]”; or

(b) by replying “I am” to the question put to them successively “Are you [ name ] free lawfully to marry [ name ] ?”

and as an alternative to the words of contract set out in paragraph 5, the persons to be married may say to each other “I [ name ] take you [ or thee] [ name ] to be my wedded wife [ or husband]”.