英国国教会失误致100万宗婚姻无效

Two million husbands and wives are not lawfully married because of a Church of England blunder, it was revealed yesterday.

Their church weddings are legally invalid because the vicars who married them used the wrong form of words, CofE lawyers admitted.

The error affects more than a million weddings celebrated over the past 30 years in churches across England.

It opens the prospect that marriage partners heading for divorce may try to deny their spouse maintenance, support or even a home on the grounds that they were never really married - the trick tried by Mick Jagger when he claimed his Balinese Hindu wedding to Jerry Hall was never a real marriage.

The latest difficulty to hit marriage law comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s prenup judgement in the case of heiress Katrin Radmacher, which means many couples marrying now must consider taking out prenup deal to protect their assets against divorce, and the Government’s move to end legal aid for divorce, which is likely to force people to take out divorce insurance.

It may also mean the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be unlawful, unless legal changes approved by the CofE’s parliament, the General Synod, yesterday win Royal Assent and pass into law before the wedding day next April.

The Church’s blunder involves the wording of the banns, which must be read out in church three times in the weeks before a wedding. The banns ask if anyone knows of any good reason why the marriage should not be allowed.

Under the Marriage Act of 1949, the wording of the banns must be that set out in 1662 the Book of Common Prayer. This asks the congregation ‘if any of you know cause, or just impediment, why these two persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony.’

However, in 1980 the Church brought in a new prayer book, the Alternative Service Book, with a new marriage service and a new form of wording for the banns. The modern wording has continued to be used in the CofE’s latest prayer book, Commons Worship, adopted in 2006.

But when the new prayer books were approved, as is legally necessary, by Parliament, Church lawyers forgot to change the 1949 Marriage Act so that it included the new wording of the banns. This asks if anyone knows a ‘reason in law’ to stop the marriage.

As a result, no wedding conducted under the form prescribed in the newer prayer books is lawful.

昨日有消息透露，由于英国国教会的一个失误，200万夫妇都未能成为合法夫妻。

英国国教会律师承认说，在他们的教堂中举行的婚礼在法律上是无效的，因为主持婚礼的牧师念的结婚公告词有误。

这一错误造成的影响波及了过去30年在全英国的教堂中举行的100万场婚礼。

这将在以后造成这样的局面：将要离婚的夫妇可能会试图拒付配偶的赡养费，甚至会把配偶赶出家门，理由是他们从来不曾真正结过婚。滚石乐队的主唱米克•贾格就曾经尝试过这一诡计，他宣称自己和杰瑞•霍尔在巴厘岛上举行的印度教婚礼从未构成真正的婚姻。

婚姻法面临的这一最新难题是在最高法院对女继承人卡特琳•拉德马赫的婚前协议判决案件之后浮出水面的。这意味着现在即将结婚的许多情侣必须考虑通过婚前协议来保护他们的财产，以规避离婚的风险。另外，政府终止对离婚的法律援助的举动也可能会迫使人们购买离婚保险。

这也可能意味着威廉王子和凯特•米德尔顿的婚姻将是不合法的，除非英国国教会总会议昨日通过的法律变更能够获得皇室的同意并在明年四月婚礼举行前成为法律。

英国国教会的失误涉及的是结婚公告的措辞。结婚公告必须在婚礼举行前几周在教堂里宣读三次。公告中要发问是否有任何人知道不该让这场婚礼进行的任何正当理由。

根据1949年的婚姻法，结婚公告必须依照1662年的公祷书上写的词句来宣读。这一版本中向会众发问的措词是：“如果你们当中的任何人知道任何理由或阻碍，认为这两个人不应该以神圣的婚姻之名结合在一起，（请指出来）。”

然而，1980年英国国教会引进了一本新的祈祷书《非传统礼仪书》，同时也引进了一套新的婚礼程序和新的结婚公告词。这一现代的结婚公告词继续被用于英国国教会在2006年最新采用的祈祷书《众拜书》中。

但是，当新的祈祷书获得国会批准时，在法律上有必要对1949年的婚姻法做出改动，使之包含新的结婚公告词，而英国国教会的律师却忘记做这件事了。新版本的发问措词是：是否有任何人知道可以阻止这一婚姻的“法律上的原因”。

因此，所有在新祈祷书规定的这一形式下举行的婚礼都是不合法的。

Vocabulary:

in the wake of: 随……之后而来；跟随在……后

prenup: a prenuptial agreement（婚前协议）

case of heiress Katrin Radmacher: 在这一离婚案中，法庭承认德国女富婆卡特琳·拉德马赫（Katrin Radmacher）和前夫尼古拉·格拉纳蒂诺（Nicolas Granatino）的婚前协议有效。

synod: an official meeting of Church members to discuss religious matters and make important decisions（教会会议）

banns: the announcement of a forthcoming marriage（教堂里的）结婚公告

congregation: the group of people who belong to a particular church and go there regularly to worship （从属某教堂并定期做礼拜的）教堂会众