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This version of this statute is extracted from the UK Statute Law Database (SLD). It is not necessarily in the form in which it was originally enacted but is a revised version, which means that any subsequent amendments to the text and other effects are incorporated with annotations.
There are effects on this legislation that have not yet been applied to SLD for the following year: 2008. See the Tables of Legislative effects and the Update status of legislation page on the SLD website.
An Act to make void marriages between persons either of whom is under the age of sixteen.
[20th December 1951]
(1)A marriage between persons either of whom is under the age of sixteen shall be void:
Provided that in any proceedings against a person charged under sub-section (1) of section five of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885 M1, or charged with indecent assault, it shall be a sufficient defence to prove that at the time when the offence is alleged to have been committed he had reasonable cause to believe that the girl in respect of whom it is alleged to have been committed was his wife.
(2)Nothing in this section shall affect any marriage solemnized or contracted before the passing of this Act, and any such marriage shall be or become valid in any case where, if this section had not been passed, it would be or become valid.
M11885 c.69
S. 2 rep. by 1995 NI 2
This Act may be cited as the Age of Marriage Act (Northern Ireland), 1951.
Age of Marriage Act (Northern Ireland) 1951