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Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to remove Doubts as to the Validity of certain Marriages of Members of the Greek Church in England |
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Citation | 47 & 48 Vict. c. 20 |
Introduced by | John Lubbock (Commons) |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 3 July 1884 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Family Law Act 1986 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
The Greek Marriages Act 1884 is an act of the British Parliament which allowed courts to declare the validity of Greek Orthodox marriages made between 1836 and 1857. The marriages were celebrated either in their homes or at the Greek Church in London, which by this time had become St Sophia's Cathedral.
The Marriage Act 1836 made marriage the business of multiple religious organisations, and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 made it the business of the state. But there was concern among the Greek community that Greek Orthodoxy had not been one of the religious organisations. If this was so, their marriages would be invalid.
The Act laid out a procedure for a court to declare such a marriage valid, and the requirements for doing so.
The first case brought under the Act was Zarafi v Attorney General, in August 1885.[1]