MIXED MARRIAGES. In various countries of Europe, marriages between persons of different religious belief have either been prohibited or put under restrictions. The canon • law forbade marriages between Christians and non-Christians; at one time, it merely discouraged, at another altogether prohibited the marriage of orthodox Christians with heretics. Subsequently to the reformation, papal dispensations were in use to be granted for marriages between Catholics and Protestants, with the condition annexed, that the children should be brought up in the Catholic faith. During the latter part of the 17th c., parents seem to have been left at liberty to make what agreement they pleased on this head; and in default of their making any, it was presumed that the chil dren would follow the religion of their father. In the middle of the 18th c., the validity of mixed marriages, even when celebrated by the civil magistrate, was recognized by the papal court; and under Napoleon's rule, they became common, without stipulations as to the children. The events of 1815 restored sufficient influence to the Roman Cath olic church to enable the clergy to put in force a rule by which they could refuse to cele brate such marriages without an assurance that the children would he brought up Cath olics. By the law of many of the German states. the clergyman of the bride was the only person who could competently officiate, and an engagement of this kind was often not only repugnant to the father as a Protestant, but illegal. Conflicts followed between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, which have sometimes been obviated by the priest, on whom the law imposes the celebration of the marriage, not pronouncing the nuptial benediction, but giving his presence as a witness along with two other witnesses when the parties declared themselves husband and wife—a kind of marriage whose validity is perfectly recognized by the canon law. In Spain, marriages between Catholics and Protestants have sometimes taken place in this way, avoiding the stipulations otherwise necessary regardinp-, the children.
There was, till lately, a great diversity in the state of the law of mixed marriages in different parts of Germany. Prussia was the first state to do away the former restric tions by the recognition of a civil ceremony alone as that which constitutes marriage in the eye of the law. Until that change, the letter of the law provided that the children should be brought up in the faith of their father, and no compacts to the contrary were allowed. Practically, however, the law was largely evaded, no one having a recognized interest to object to the fulfillment of such agreements. In Bavaria, mixed marriages might be performed either by Protestant or Catholic clergymen; and the spouses had it in their power to make what arrangements they pleaseffregardiug the children before or after marriage; but if no such arrafikeinents happened to have been made, the children were brought up in the religion of their father. In Saxony, and various other German states, the spouses might, before marriage, make what arrangements they liked as to the religion of their children: but if they had made none, the law obliged them to be brought up in the faith of their father. A bill for rendering civil marriage obligatory throughout
the empire was brought before the Reichstag in 1874, and passed in 1875, thus extending the system of Prussia to all other German states. This bill enables men and women to lie married independently of the consent of the clergy (not always easily obtained in Catholic districts), or of the difference of their religious beliefs. It also allows of chil dren being left unbaptized, and brought up without being assigned to any religions denomi nation whatsoever. In Austria, the interposition of the Catholic priest is required in marriages between Catholics and Protestants. tie need not, however, give the sacerdo tal benediction; his passive assistance only is required, either in taking the declaration of the parties, which is followed by a Protestant ceremony, or by being present as a witness at the Protestant ceremony. When the husband is Catholic, all the children must be brought up Catholics; when the husband is Protestant and the wife Catholic, the sons follow the father and the daughters the mother. In Denmark stipulations may be made before or after marriage, and can be altered by mutual consent of the parents, or, in some cases, even after the death of one of them. Mixed marriages were, till lately, alto gaher prohibited in some of the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, but they are now authorized in all the cantons by the federal laws. It is generally the clergyman of the husband's creed who officiates, but at Ztirich the ceremony is performed in both churches. In most eases, the children are required to be educated in the religion of their father.
In most German states, iprriages between Christians and Jews or Mohammedans used to be interdicted; but, after 1849, the prohibitions were in individual cases dis pensed with. In Denmark such marriages have been permitted on condition of the children being brought up Protestants. In Russia the members of both Greek and Roman communions are prohibited from intermarrying with non-Christians: members of the orthodox Greek church cannot marry Greek sectaries; but when an orthodox Rus sian marries a Protestant or Catholic, the benediction must be given in the Greek church, and the children baptized in the Greek communion. When the parents are of different religions, but neither belongs to the Greek church, ante-nuptial stipulations will he given effect to; if none have been made, the sons follow the father's faith, and the daughters the mother's.
In France the law regards marriage as a purely civil contract, and recognizes only the civil celebration, which is completely separated from the religious rite. As the faith of the parents is not taken cognizance of, questions regarding the religious education of the children cannot arise before the civil tribunals.
The only restriction to which mixed marriages are now subjected in any part of the United Kingdom is imposed by act 19 Geo. II. c. 13, applicable to Ireland only, that a marriage celebrated by a Catholic priest between a Roman Catholic and a Protestant, or a person who within 12 months has been or professed to be a Protestant, or between two Protestants, is null.