The Marriage (Wales) Act 2010 c.6 is an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

in the United Kingdom. Introduced as a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

David Rowe-Beddoe, Baron Rowe-Beddoe David Sydney Rowe-Beddoe, Baron Rowe-Beddoe, (born 19 December 1937) is a Welsh businessman, a life peer and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.

and sponsored by

Alun Michael Alun Edward Michael (born 22 August 1943) is a Welsh Labour politician serving as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales ...

MP, it received royal assent on 18 March 2010. It created the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

's counterpart to mirror the Church of England Marriage Measure 2008 No. 1 and brought the Church in Wales's marriage regulations into line with those of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Background

The

had been disestablished from the

since 1920 following the

Welsh Church Act 1914 The Welsh Church Act 1914 is an Act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales. The Act had long been demanded by the Nonconformist ...

. It had the effect of severing the Church in Wales's links with the

canon law of the Church of England The Church of England, like the other autonomous member churches of the Anglican Communion, has its own system of canon law. The principal body of canon law enacted since the Reformation is the ''Book of Canons'' approved by the Convocations of C ...

. This meant that any Measures passed by the Church of England no longer had legal force over the Church in Wales. Any changes made to the Church in Wales's legal situations must be made via an

, as the

Senedd The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

has no jurisdiction over ecclesiastical law or marriage law because those are

reserved matters In the United Kingdom, devolved matters are the areas of public policy where the Parliament of the United Kingdom has Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved its legislative power to the national assemblies of Scotland, Wales and Northern I ...

. Prior to the Act, when two people wished to marry in Wales, ordinarily, at least one of them would have to live in the parish where they would get married or have attended the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

for the previous six months. The Act allowed couples to use a parent's residency or regular attendance in the specific Church as a valid condition to be married in that parish; or for the church to have been the place where one of the parties to the marriage had been baptised or confirmed; or for the church to have been where a parent or grandparent of one of the parties to the marriage had been married.

History

In 2008, the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

passed the

Church of England Marriage Measure 2008 The Church of England Marriage Measure 2008, No. 1 is a Church of England Measure passed by the General Synod of the Church of England extending the right to marry in a Church of England church to parish churches with which a person has a qualify ...

, which extended the rights of marriage within their churches to allow people to marry in churches where they had been christened or confirmed as well as in churches where any of their parents or grandparents had been married. This led to the Church in Wales being out of step with the Church of England, as the Measure only applied to the Church of England, and the Church in Wales continued to use the old requirements of either residency in the parish or regular church attendance for the previous six months. As the Church in Wales Governing Body's actions have no legal force in English law, legislation from Parliament was required to bring the Church in Wales into line with the Church of England. In 2009, the Governing Body debated and accepted Private Members' Motion (No 09/13), which requested that the Church in Wales take steps to bring the church's marriage regulations into line with those of the Church of England. The Marriage (Wales) Bill was drafted by the Governing Body of the Church in Wales and brought forward into Parliament as a private member's bill in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

by the chairman of the

Representative Body of the Church in Wales The Representative Body of the Church in Wales is a registered charity, regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, responsible for holding property and assets on behalf of the Church in Wales. It was set up in 1917 to oversee th ...

, Lord Rowe-Beddoe. The text was drafted by the Church in Wales' Governing Body. It passed through the House of Lords without amendment. In the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

, the bill was sponsored by the

Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. The act received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

from

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on 18 March 2010, before the

dissolution of Parliament The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the mandatory simultaneous resignation of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assemb ...

. The Marriage (Wales) Act 2010 was viewed by academics as being an example of a disestablished church enjoying the privileges of establishment but without the legal ability to self-regulate itself and requiring

primary legislation Primary legislation and secondary legislation (the latter also called delegated legislation or subordinate legislation) are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislature, legislative and executive (government), executive branches of ...

to make desired changes.

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2010 Marriage law in the United Kingdom Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Wales 2010 in Wales Church in Wales Christianity and law in the 21st century

Background

History

See also

References