[1405] Townshend, in Cobbett, loc. cit., 55-58.
[1406] Banns and license are unnecessary; while clandestine marriages of the "scandalous or infamous" variety are so unimportant as to call for no legislation. Bigamy and the hardships arising in difficulty of proof may be remedied, it is alleged, by a law merely providing for proper registration and making it a rule that the "legitimacy of children should never be questioned, after the death of their parents who lived together as husband and wife, and were generally reputed to be so."—Townshend, in Cobbett, loc. cit., 49, 50. Cf. the similar plan of Haldane, ibid., 40, 41.
[1407] Friedberg, Geschichte der Civilehe, 20,15.
[1408] Horace Walpole, Letters, II, 334-36; Cobbett, op. cit., XV, 32, 33.
[1409] Nugent, in Cobbett, loc. cit., 19. Cf. the extracts from the Report of the "Marriage Laws Commission," 1868, in Hammick, Marriage Law, 354 ff., where the inadequacy of banns and the popular dislike of them are mentioned.
[1410] The act of 26 Geo. II., c. 33. For the text, see Pickering's Statutes at Large, XXI, 124-30; Evans, Statutes, I, 155-60. For analysis and discussion of its provisions see Burn (R.), Ecclesiastical Laws, II, 433; Hammick, Marriage Law, 12-15; Geary, Marriage and Family Relations, 9, 12-15; Burn (J. S.), Parish Registers, 32, 33; Blackstone, Commentaries, I, 438, 440; IV, 163; Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., I, 531-40; idem, Democracy and Liberty, II, 174, 176 ff.; Taswell-Langmead, Eng. Const. Hist., 750; Campbell, Chancellors, VI, 262; May, Const. Hist., II, 362; Friedberg, Geschichte der Civilehe, 16, 17; idem, Eheschliessung, 355-58; Oppenheim, "Ueber Einführung der Civil-Ehe in Eng.," ZKR., I, 9-11.
[1411] From 8 to 12 in the morning.
[1412] Cf. Hammick, Marriage Law, 13. Compare Sayer, A Vindication of the Power of Society to annull the Marriages of Minors (1754), 2 ff., who answers the arguments of Stebbing in the works mentioned in Bibliographical Note X. This is important in tracing the rise of sound opinions regarding the proper sphere of social control; and with it may be read to advantage Salmon, Critical Essay Concerning Marriage, 59 ff. On the ecclesiastical law as to consent to the marriage of minors see Poynter, Doctrine and Practice of the Ecc. Courts, 29 ff.; and in this connection may also be read Cooke, Report of the Case of Horner against Liddiard upon ... Consent nec. to the mar. of illegit. Minors (London, 1800).
[1413] The clause of the act providing for license is vigorously attacked by Fry, Considerations on the Act, 7 ff., who declares that "it gives liberty (for a little money) to revive Clandestine Marriages." On the spiritual law as to license compare Poynter, Doctrine and Practice of the Ecc. Courts, 21 ff.
[1414] The act took effect on March 25, 1754; and between its passage on June 6 and that date these parsons did a roaring good business. The Gentleman's Magazine, XXIV, 141 (Sunday, March 24, 1754), has the following: