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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: GrahamSimons on Sunday 21 October 12 09:59 BST (UK)

Title: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: GrahamSimons on Sunday 21 October 12 09:59 BST (UK)
This website is well worth visiting - some very informative and well-researched papers which have changed my understanding. The link is actually to a quiz on marriage law for genealogists - I wonder how many RootsChatters are willing to post their scores on this quiz?

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/staff/academic/probert/marriagelawforgenealogists/quiz/

(You can navigate from this page quite easily to the resources)

Thanks to the SOG daily digest for this link.
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Koromo on Sunday 21 October 12 10:42 BST (UK)
 ;)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: GrahamSimons on Sunday 21 October 12 10:45 BST (UK)
OK I admit I only scored 8/15....
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: lyn22 on Sunday 21 October 12 10:49 BST (UK)
 ???Well I dont know much I got 6 Lynette
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: KGarrad on Sunday 21 October 12 10:49 BST (UK)
8/15 for me, too! :-\
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: davidft on Sunday 21 October 12 10:50 BST (UK)
LOL 8/15 for me too  :)

(which I actually thought was quite good)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Nick29 on Sunday 21 October 12 11:28 BST (UK)
I got 8/15 too.  I bet Stan Mapstone got them all right  :)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Gaie on Sunday 21 October 12 11:33 BST (UK)
9/15; surprised myself  :)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Plummiegirl on Sunday 21 October 12 11:48 BST (UK)
My score was so low I am ashamed of myself  3/15

Now as a little miss knowitall, I am off to sulk in the corner...... ;)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Ruskie on Sunday 21 October 12 12:04 BST (UK)
I got a paltry 6. Though not trying to excuse my poor result, I think that several of them could be classed as "trick" questions.

For example this one:
If you were to discover that your great-great-grandmother married at the age of 23 in 1850, would this be…
Considerably younger than average?
A little younger than average?
A little older than average?
Considerably older than average?

I answered C thinking that girls married around 21/22, but was incorrect due to the fact that in this period in time, the average age for marriage was 24. I know it's just a fun quiz, but that really is nitpicking.  ;D
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: panda40 on Sunday 21 October 12 12:23 BST (UK)
10/15 and I surprised myself
Regards panda
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: ambers on Sunday 21 October 12 13:03 BST (UK)
6/15 :-[

Ambers
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: angelfish58 on Sunday 21 October 12 13:19 BST (UK)
8/15 for me too. Do I have to go to Stan Mapstone for detention?  ;)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: mumjo on Sunday 21 October 12 13:21 BST (UK)
8/15 for me too, looks like i'm just average  :P ::) ::) and has quite a bit to learn.
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: confused73 on Sunday 21 October 12 13:46 BST (UK)
Wow with a few guesses I managed to get 15, / ::) ::) ::)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Billyblue on Sunday 21 October 12 14:28 BST (UK)
Well, I only got 5/15.

But I don't do any research in England or Wales, so maybe I can use that as an excuse.  I was just going by answers to things I've read on here and elsewhere.

 ::)  ::)  ::)  :P   :P  :P

Dawn M
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: KGarrad on Sunday 21 October 12 16:00 BST (UK)
Wow with a few guesses I managed to get 15, / ::) ::) ::)


Swot!! ;D
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: confused73 on Sunday 21 October 12 16:03 BST (UK)
No just some lucky guesses.
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: mazi on Sunday 21 October 12 16:04 BST (UK)
Some questions are matters of fact, but ,for others the answer depends on who is studying which data, I would suggest that many of you who have posted are more knowledgable and have more experience of interpreting birth and marriage certs than most, especially the difficult entries.

I'm not included in the many ;D ;D ;D ;D


mike
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: lizdb on Sunday 21 October 12 16:09 BST (UK)
8 / 15

(What's the pass mark? !   Shall we say 50%, then all of us with 8 can say we've passed!)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: croxia on Sunday 21 October 12 16:30 BST (UK)
Pleased to say I scored 10/15!!

Croxia
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: eadaoin on Sunday 21 October 12 18:35 BST (UK)
just some lucky guesses.

I got 9/15 .. as a foreigner, I guessed about three-quarters of them!

eadaoin
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: rancegal on Monday 22 October 12 18:35 BST (UK)

  I only got 5/15   :(     Back to school!  Very interesting, though, and good for straightening out misapprehensions
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Jane Masri on Monday 22 October 12 18:37 BST (UK)
I got 8/15 which seems to be about average  ;) but more importantly I LEARNT something  :)  Any more like this Graham?

Jane
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Guy Etchells on Monday 22 October 12 19:11 BST (UK)
I got two wrong however I disagree with one
Comparing an ancestor’s marriage certificate to his baptism certificate and to a census entry from immediately before the wedding, you discover that he used a completely different first name when he married. Was the marriage…

In England and Wales a person's name is the name they decide to be known as.
If a person changed their name between baptism or even the census schedule (which could have been filled in by someone who did not know what name he or she wished to be known as) and the marriage then the marriage was valid.

The question is clearly wrong. ;)

It should have been
"If a person used a false name on marriage..."
Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Maggie1895 on Monday 22 October 12 21:51 BST (UK)
Graham, thank you for posting this, it's really interesting.

I got 10/15 and reckon that was lucky because I gave most of my answers on the balance of probabilities and some gut feelings, not because I knew anything for certain.     

I've printed the answers with my scores and am going to keep it as a useful reference source.     Thanks again
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: davidft on Tuesday 23 October 12 15:26 BST (UK)
I got two wrong however I disagree with one
Comparing an ancestor’s marriage certificate to his baptism certificate and to a census entry from immediately before the wedding, you discover that he used a completely different first name when he married. Was the marriage…

In England and Wales a person's name is the name they decide to be known as.
If a person changed their name between baptism or even the census schedule (which could have been filled in by someone who did not know what name he or she wished to be known as) and the marriage then the marriage was valid.

The question is clearly wrong. ;)

It should have been
"If a person used a false name on marriage..."
Cheers
Guy

If you disagree strongly you could always contact the author Rebecca Probert
whose quiz it actually is.


Rebecca Probert has just published "Marriage Law for Genealogists: The Definitive Guide...what everyone tracing their family history needs to know about where, when, who and how their English and Welsh ancestors married" after much research

You can find her contact details in the link given in the first post on this thread
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Jane Masri on Tuesday 23 October 12 17:38 BST (UK)
For those of you who got addicted  ;D  try these  http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/hobbies/hobbies_other/genealogy.html

Jane
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Guy Etchells on Tuesday 23 October 12 19:02 BST (UK)
Davidft, I already have.

Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: davidft on Tuesday 23 October 12 20:30 BST (UK)
Davidft, I already have.

Cheers
Guy

OK. Thank you.
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Cell on Wednesday 24 October 12 03:50 BST (UK)

14/15

The one I apparently got incorrect was  this one " If you were to discover that your great-great-grandmother married at the age of 23 in 1850, would this be...."
I answered a little older than average.

Their answer was a little younger than average. According to them the average was just over 24

 I'd like to know where they got their info from for these brides in 1850, considering a great, great many marriages does not give an age of the bride (and the groom) , and of course their births would have been before civil reg, and of course censuses can not be relied on neither deaths for age

Take it with a pinch of salt  ;D
Kind Regards

Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Guy Etchells on Wednesday 24 October 12 09:26 BST (UK)
The information is gleaned from various studies that include parish registers, (baptisms & marriages) census, Registrar General's reports etc. Whilst such data may not be specifically accurate it can certainly give accurate average figures.

I have had a reply from Professor Probert who agrees with my point about names and has changed the feedback to reflect this.

Setting such multiply choice questions to convey accurately what one wishes to say is always difficult given that questions need to be as concise as possible.
Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: Sloe Gin on Wednesday 24 October 12 20:09 BST (UK)
Yes, I got that one "wrong" as well. 

Q:  Comparing an ancestor’s marriage certificate to his baptism certificate and to a census entry from immediately before the wedding, you discover that he used a completely different first name when he married.

I said it was valid regardless.  There was no mention of the banns in the question.

A:  If the banns were called in a name by which the person was not known, then the effect was just the same as if they had not been called at all, and the marriage would be void unless a court took the view that an innocent mistake had been made. Using the wrong name did not, however, invalidate a marriage by licence, even if it was adopted deliberately.

How are we to know that the banns were called in a different name?  There's nothing there to say so.  ::)
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: GrahamSimons on Monday 26 November 12 23:54 GMT (UK)
Podcast on this topic from Rebecca Probert: http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/tracing-marriages-legal-requirements-and-actual-practice-1700-1836/

Fascinating to listen to....
Title: Re: What do you know of marriage law?
Post by: millymcb on Tuesday 27 November 12 00:30 GMT (UK)
Obviously I blame poor question writing for the fact I only got 4 out of 10 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Milly