Marriage by Acclamation?

[Debbie in B.C.]

I have a 1932, Glasgow marriage certificate that says "by Acclamation" as opposed to banns. 
has anyone come across this term before?  And what signifigance might it imply?

No witnesses on the certificate, it appears to be a sherrif's warrant.

[RJ_Paton]

The parties involved in an irregular marriage could apply to the Sheriff of the County to have their marriage officially recognised and a warrant issued to allow the official registration. (This application had to be made within 3 months of the marriage declaration - 1916 Marriage Act)

Scots Law recognised several forms of irregular marriage but most of them fell by the wayside after the passing of various Marriage Acts.

[Debbie in B.C.]

Hmmm.... I wonder if they were related to each other? 
Cousins, 2nd cousins perhaps?  Very interesting.

Both parties gave their age as 21 years, so that wasn't the issue.

Thanks for the info Falkyrn.   

[RJ_Paton]

They needn't have been related, although marriage between cousins was legal in Scotland.

Age wouldn't have been an issue as 16 yrs of age would have been old enough to have married without parental consent.

Couples who in todays parlance have been living together could be known as man & wife and this was legally acceptable as a form of marriage (although many a kirk minister probably ranted about living in sin  ). However when registration came into being it became possible to have an irregular marriage "made regular" by applying for a Sheriffs warrant which would acclaim the marriage (ie give it official recognition)

[Debbie in B.C.]

thanks for the explanation.  In all the years I have been researching, I have never caome across it before!  There ya go.... learn something new every day.   

[RJ_Paton]

Scots law has many unique "quirks" 

[JAP]

Hello Debbie,

Are you sure it says Marriage by Acclamation?  The usual phrase is 'Marriage by Declaration' (and Warrant of Sheriff Substitute).

If you go to the RootsChat Reference Library and then to the Lexicon of Genealogical Terms and Abbreviations at:
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/index.php
you can then search in alphabetical order.

Go to 'I' and 'Irregular Marriage'.

One of the links there is to a topic where I gave a rather lengthy explanation re Irregular Marriages.  It may be of interest to you.  It is at:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,227262.0.html

Don't hesitate to ask if you have further questions.

Best regards,

JAP

[RJ_Paton]

Marriage by acclamation through a Sheriffs warrant was a refinement introduced in the 1916 marriage Act and would only be granted provided application was made within 3 months of the "marriage" .

Prior to the 1916 Act there were various processes that the couple had to go through to declare their marriage by Sheriffs warrant and this procedure continued to be used for those irregular marriages which were more than 3 months old.

[JAP]

Hello Falkyrn,

I've researched the topic of so-called "irregular" (but perfectly legal!) marriages in Scotland for quite a while and thus would like to learn more about what you've said.  I'd therefore be most grateful if you could provide references to marriage by "acclamation" (preferably references which are accessible on the Internet  ) as it's something I've not heard of previously.

Incidentally, writing "marriage" (i.e. in quotes - as you have) is surely misleading.  Marriages by declaration (inter alia - there was also marriage by habit & repute, and marriage by a promise followed by consummation) were entirely legal.

Kind regards,

JAP

PS: Debbie, the descriptor "irregular" dated back to before Statutory Registration - the presbyterian church chose to describe certain marriages (perfectly legal under Scots Law but without 'benefit of clergy') as "irregular" and that misleading word carried on into the time of Statutory Registration.

To quote from my post cited earlier (there are a couple of posts from other people cited in the Lexicon):
"From 1855 (when Statutory Registration started in Scotland) until the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939 came into force in July 1940, marriages involving the church were entered into the Statutory Register as a matter of course but other marriages – though perfectly legal – were not unless special application was made.

Many such couples, of course, wanted to have a marriage certificate.  But they could only have their marriage formally registered in the Statutory Register and get a Marriage Certificate if they could prove to the Registrar that they actually had married each other.  The standard mechanism for this was
(a) to obtain a formal Warrant of Sheriff Substitute (i.e. documentary proof that the Sheriff Substitute accepted that the couple had married each other), and
(b) then to take the Warrant along to the Registrar and have the marriage registered and a marriage certificate issued.

This could be done promptly, or within a specified time period, or with special dispensation or court proceedings well after the event.  But the marriage remained legal whether or not it had received a Warrant of Sheriff Substitute and whether or not it had been registered, and there was no requirement for either

The certificate issued by the Registrar would include reference to the marriage having been ‘Irregular’ and to the Warrant of Sheriff Substitute.  This continued with vastly simpler procedures and ease until the 1939 Act finally introduced civil marriage in a Registry Office by a Registrar but, up till then, the horrid and misleading word 'Irregular' still appeared on marriage certificates – and has caused a lot of worry to people researching their family trees."