Report No. 22
12. Clause 3-Marriage between Christians.-
A point urged against clause 3 is, that it does not provide for solemnisation of a marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian according to Church rites. This point was raised at the hearing held before the previous Report, and it has been fully1 dealt with by us. It has to be noted that the Bill puts no impediments in the way of a Christian marrying a non-Christian. It has been pointed out in the previous Report that "the scheme of legislation has, latterly, been that laws governing marriages in a particular religious denomination should have application only when both the parties to the marriage belong to that religious denomination".
It has also further been pointed out, that to permit such marriage under this legislation would lead to conflict in the application of laws relating to succession and so forth. There does not appear to be any good reason why a sacramental form of marriage should be insisted upon when a Christian marries a non-Christian. It has not been shown that there is any advantage to be gained in performing such marriages. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an enactment which is specially intended to provide for solemnising such marriages, and can be availed of in such cases.
1. See 15th Report, para. 4.