GRETNA GREEN. A village of Dumfries shire, Scotland (near the Solway. and just over the border from England), which gained great. notoriety during the last century as the favorite place for runaway couples from England to celebrate marriages and so easily evade the Eng lish Marriage Act, which required the consent of parents and guardians, publication of banns, and the presence of a priest. The law of Scot land required nothing but a mutual declaration of intention to be exchanged in presence of wit nesses—a ceremony which could be performed instantly; and it was immaterial whether the parties were minors or not. This declaration generally 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 profited by the liberality usually dispensed on such auspicious occasions for his trifling services. The declaration of mar
riage being exchanged, the parties could return at once to England, and their marriage was held valid there and the world over, under the rule of law that the validity of a marriage is governed by the law of the place where it is contracted (lex loci contractus). The severity of the Eng lish marriage law has been modified; the Scotch law has been altered, with a view of checking this evasion of English law; and by 19 and 20 Vict., ch. 96, no irregular marriage of that kind in Scotland is now valid unless one of the parties had at the date thereof his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for twenty-one days next preceding such, marriage. See MARRIAGE.