Marriage Act · 2013 Revised Edition · Part I · Preliminary
3. Capacity to marry
Official textFrom Attorney General's Chambers, unchanged
No two persons shall be capable of contracting a valid marriage unless the following conditions are fulfilled —
marriage
“marriage” means a marriage as understood by English law, that is, the voluntary union for life or until the marriage is dissolved by a court of competent jurisdiction of one man with one woman to the exclusion of all others;
both parties to the intended marriage have reached the age of 14 years;
both parties to the intended marriage are not related to each other within the degrees of kindred set out in the First Schedule;
if domiciled elsewhere than in the State, the parties to the intended marriage are not related to each other within a degree of kindred prohibited by the law of the country of their domicile;
Marriage
neither party to the intended marriage is bound by a valid subsisting marriage to a third person;
at the time of the marriage, neither party is a lunatic, an idiot or a person whose mental condition makes him or her incapable of understanding the nature of the marriage contract;
the parties to the intended marriage freely consent to marry each other:
Provided that absence of consent shall not be inferred merely from the fact that one party was induced by fraud to marry the other.
A marriage shall be void unless all the conditions set out in subsection (1) are fulfilled.
Terms defined in s 2
marriage
Defined · s 2“marriage” means a marriage as understood by English law, that is, the voluntary union for life or until the marriage is dissolved by a court of competent jurisdiction of one man with one woman to the exclusion of all others;
Part II
Religious Marriages
Part III
Civil Marriages
Part IV
Offences and Penalties
Part V