Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 4 June 1964.
Mr. Vane:
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the damaging effect on respect for English marriage Laws resulting from couples from foreign countries who travel across England to take advantage of the marriage laws in Scotland as highlighted by the marriages at Gretna Green; and whether he will consult the Secretary of State for Scotland with a view to agreeing the application of a code nearer to that of England in respect of persons not normally resident in Scotland, who wish to marry there.
Mr Christopher Woodhouse
, Oxford
I assume that my hon. Friend has in mind the marriage of minors to which parental consent is required in England but not in Scotland. I understand that from time to time consideration has been given to the possibility of amending the Scottish law on the lines of my hon. Friend's suggestion, but that no practicable method of preventing such marriages has been found which would not involve a fundamental and unacceptable alteration of the Scottish marriage law.
Mr. Vane:
Is my hon. Friend aware that that is not a very robust Answer? While not wishing to exaggerate, may I ask whether he is aware that this long-established local racket is now becoming a European scandal, that even the West German Government are beginning to consider it and that people concerned with moral welfare on both sides of the Border have long felt that this is a situation which should be changed? Whereas I am concerned with the shame which reflects on Scotland, I am concerned with such part of the shame as reflects on England. This is happening just across our Border, and surely my hon. Friend will look at the matter again.
Mr Christopher Woodhouse
, Oxford
In so far as my hon. Friend's Question affects Scottish law, I must refer him to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland. With great respect to my hon. Friend, I am unable to see how it can bring English law into disrepute if foreign minors marry in Scotland.
Sir Eric Fletcher
, Islington East
Would not the Joint Under-Secretary agree that if Europeans want to avail themselves of Scottish law at Gretna Green there is no need for them to go through England to do so?
Mr Christopher Woodhouse
, Oxford
It is also a misconception to link this practice exclusively with Gretna Green. It is exactly the same in any other part of Scotland.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
