Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-25T21:04:05.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Convergence? 1950–1993

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2021

Rebecca Probert
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Get access

Summary

The number of religious and civil weddings gradually converged, with parity being achieved in the late 1970s. Yet those marrying in a register office did not necessarily regard marriage as a civil matter. While some were motivated by their lack of religious belief, many more did so because they were unable to marry in accordance with their beliefs. For Anglicans, it was the restrictions placed by the church on the remarriage of those who had been divorced that was the key constraint. For other denominations and faiths, it was primarily the lack of places of worship in which weddings could legally take place. Such legislative changes as did occur during this period were limited to very specific issues: new laws gave Liberal Judaism the same status as Reform Judaism, modified some of the preconditions for places of worship to be registered, enabled Anglicans and other denominations to celebrate weddings in the same building, and provided all couples with an alternative to the Anglican special licence in specific situations. More wide-ranging reform was clearly needed, but proposals to simplify the law came to nothing.

Type
Chapter
Information
Tying the Knot
The Formation of Marriage 1836–2020
, pp. 198 - 227
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×