Report No. 15
5. Consent of guardian in marriage.-
(1) Whenever the consent of a guardian in marriage is necessary for a bride under this Act, the persons entitled to give such consent shall be the following in the order specified hereunder, namely:-
(a) the father;
(b) the mother;
(c) the paternal grandfather;
(d) the paternal grandmother;
(e) the brother by full blood; as between brothers, the elder being preferred;
(f) the brother may half blood; as between brothers by half blood, the elder being preferred:
Provided that the bride is living with him and in being brought up by him;
(g) the paternal uncle by full blood; as between paternal uncles, the elder being preferred;
(h) the maternal grandfather;
(i) the maternal grandmother;
(j) the maternal uncle by full blood; as between maternal uncles, the elder being preferred:
Provided that the bride is living with him and is being brought up by him.
[Section 19 and section 44 1st para., Christian Marriage Act]
[Cf. section 6, H.M.A.]
(2) No person shall be entitled to act as a guardian in marriage under sub-section (1) unless such person has himself completed the age of twenty-one years.
(3) Where any person entitled to be the guardian marriage under sub-section (1) refuses, or is for any cause unable or unfit, to act as such, the person next in order shall be entitled to be the guardian.
(4) Where no such person as is referred to in sub-section (1) is living and willing and able and fit to act as guardian in marriage, or where any guardian in marriage, without just cause, withholds his consent to the marriage, the permission of the district court shall be necessary for the marriage of the bride.
[Section 45, part, Christian Marriage Act, extended.]
(5) The permission of the district court for the marriage of the bride under sub-section (4) may be applied for by a petition made by the parties to the intended marriage.
[Section 45, part, Christian Marriage Act.]
(6) Where such a petition is made, the district court shall examine the allegations of the petition in a summary manner and shall decide the matter after giving a reasonable opportunity to the parties to be heard.
[Section 45, part, Christian Marriage Act.]
(7) The decision of the court granting or refusing permission under sub-section (4) shall be final.
(8) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any person has been appointed or declared by a court to be the guardian of the person of the bride, he alone shall be entitled to act as guardian in marriage.
[New] [See section 7, Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.]
(9) Nothing in this section shall affect the jurisdiction of a court to prohibit by injunction an intended marriage, if in the interests of the bride for whose marriage consent is required, the court thinks it necessary to do so.
Back
