Marriage with Foreigners Act 1906

1 Marriages of British subjects with foreigners abroad

(1) Any British subject who desires to be married in a foreign country to a foreigner according to the law of that country may, if it is desired for the purpose of complying with the requirement of the law of that country to obtain the certificate hereinafter mentioned, give notice of the marriage, if resident in the United Kingdom, to the registrar, and if resident abroad, to the marriage officer, and apply to the registrar or officer for a certificate that after proper notices have been given no legal impediment to the marriage has been shown to the registrar or officer to exist, and the registrar or officer shall, after the conditions set out in the Schedule to this Act have been complied with, give the certificate applied for unless the certificate is forbidden or a caveat is in operation as provided in that Schedule, or some legal impediment to the marriage is shown to the registrar or officer to exist.

(2) If a person—

(a) knowingly and wilfully makes a false oath or signs a false notice of marriage for the purpose of a certificate under this section ; or

(b) forbids the granting of a certificate under this section by falsely representing himself to be a person who is authorised to forbid the certificate, knowing that representation to be false,

that person shall be guilty of perjury, and if the offence is committed abroad, may be tried in any county or place in the United Kingdom in which the offender may be, and dealt with in the same manner in all respects as if the offence had been committed in that county or place.

(3) If any person enters a caveat on grounds which the registrar or officer or, in case of appeal, the Registrar-General declares to be frivolous, that person shall be liable to pay as a debt to the applicant for the certificate such sum as the registrar or officer or, in the case of appeal, the Registrar-General considers to be proper compensation for the damage caused to the applicant by the entering of the caveat.

(4) Such fees may be charged in respect of any notice of an intended marriage, or any application for or grant of a certificate, or the entering of a caveat under this section, as may be fixed, as respects certificates to be granted by or caveats entered with registrars, by the Registrar-General, with the consent of His Majesty in Council, and, as respects certificates to be granted by or caveats entered with a marriage officer, as may be fixed by Order under the [54 & 55 Vict. c. 36.] Consular Salaries and Fees Act, 1891.