THE MARRIAGE ACT CORRECTED.
It had been found, by a late decision in the court of king’s bench, that a clause in the Marriage Act of 1751 rendered all marriages unlawful whereof the banns had been published in churches or chapels erected since the passing of the act. This decision would have dissolved thousands of marriages hitherto supposed to be valid, and would also have rendered their offspring illegitimate, had not the legislature interfered. A bill was brought in by Lord Beauchamp, which had a retrospective operation, in order to render such marriages valid and their issue legitimate. This bill was adopted by both houses unanimously; and it received the royal assent early in June. After it had passed, Fox, who inherited his father’s dislike to the whole of the marriage Act, brought in a bill for amending or rather repealing it in toto. Fox’s motion, which was rejected without a division, excited much notice from the circumstance that it brought him into collision for the first time with Burke, his bosom friend. Burke as strenuously supported the original act, as Fox opposed it; considering that “it hit the just mean between a mischievous restraint and that laxity which formerly occasioned so much disorder.” Each supported their own views with their known abilities.