death certificates

[A bairn]

Hi JCMac the reason I posted the query was that the marriage was performed in a solicitor's office and the solicitor was one of the witnesses so I assumed he would require proof of both parties marital status but maybe not.
Maureen

[jcmac]

Hello A bairn,
I was trying to advise that Scots Law accepted a simple concept that two people who were free of any previous marriage could declare themselves to be married one to the other and that was it.
No doubt that later in life problems might exist in getting everyone to accept that "fact" and in the 20th.century this would be a more difficult "fact" to have accepted by various authorities.
If she was registered on her death cert. as a Spinster then that would have relevance to the person reporting it and how that information was put to the Registrar. If he didn't register the death then the "fact" of marriage may not have been known to the informant (or not "accepted" by the Registrar).
As for his marriage in 1916 I cannot advise you as to what proof he would be required to produce, if any.

Did they have any children born in Scotland ? If so the birth certificate should record the status of the parents - as they declared to the Registrar !!
jcmac
 

[A bairn]

Hi jcmac, the situation is not quite that simple. The marriage eventually came after a long-standing affair which did produce 2 children but who were registered as being the children of the woman's then husband.However I've found articles which are very interesting on the Glasgow Uni site which refer to birth/death/marriage so I think they may be able to answer my query from a legal perspective.
Thanks for getting back to me.
Maureen

[A bairn]

Hi fist, your  suggestion to use the Search button proved invaluable. I found a link there to a Glasgow Uni dept which published research articles on birth/death/marriage.I'll contact the Uni and I think they will know the answer.
Maureen

[flst]

Glad to be of assistance!
flst

[A bairn]

To all who tried to help.
All the information on marriage regular and irregular is contained on a podcast from Glasgow University at
http://workingclassmarriage.gla.ac.uk/the-team/
It contains an amazing amount of information on the legality of marriages mainly in Scotland from the 17th century up until 1939 but also contrasts the differences in England and other parts of Europe.
The podcast is the basis of an article on irregular marriages soon to be published in 'The Journal of Social History'

Maureen

[MonicaL]

Thanks for the update Maureen 

The podcast sound really interesting. I have added to your info here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,578172.0.html

Monica

[carolineasb]

You mentioned that the 2 children of the affair were registered as the husband's children and, that "legally" is the position that they are the husband's children even now, if not "biologically".  I have some Birth Certificates in my family where it is stated on the Certificate that the mother is married to "bla bla" but she declares that the child is not bla bla's but someone else's child!

[MonicaL]

... but she declares that the child is not bla bla's but someone else's child!

That did happen. Also, sometimes mother stated for the birth cert that husband had deserted her some years and she had not seen him for x amount of time. In other words, confirmation that husband was not father of the child whose birth she was registering.

All down to what information was given to the Registrar at the time I would say...

Monica