GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES, the name given to marriages of English persons con tracted at Gretna Green. This spot being the first convenient halting-place for run away couples from England, gave the name to this kind of marriage, originally an easy mode of evading the English marriage act, which required the consent of parents and guardians, publication of bans, and the presence of a priest—all of which involved considerable publicity and an inconvenient delay, but which were got rid of by the parties passing the English border into Scottish ground. The rule being, that a mar riage is valid if contracted according to the law of the place where the parties enter into the contract, it was easy for English couples to avail themselves of the mode of con tracting marriage allowed by the law of Scotland, which required nothing but a mutual declaration of marriage to be exchanged in presence of witnesses—a ceremony which could be performed instantly—and it was immaterial whether the parties were minors or not. This declaration took place in presence of a blacksmith, who in reality was no more necessary than any other witness, but who gradually assumed an authority which imposed on the credulity of the English strangers, and thereby profited by the liberality usually dispensed on such auspicious occasions for his trifling services.
The declaration of marriage being exchanged, the parties could return at once to Eng land, and their marriage was held ever after to he valid there and all the world over.
These marriages have received much discouragement of late. Not only has the strict ness of the English law of marriage been dispensed with, by allowing marriages to be contracted in England in comparative secrecy before the superintendent registrar, with out going before a priest, but the Scotch law has also been altered, with a view of checking this evasion of English law. By 19 and 20 Vict. c. 96, no irregular mar riage of that kind in Scotland is now valid unless one of the parties had at the data thereof his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for 21 days next preceding such marriage. The effect of this statute is, therefore, an obstacle to run away marriages from England so far that one of the parties must at least have resided in Scotland 21 days.