by ksouthall » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:06 pm
I must admit, I agree with Pentre on this. In England and Wales, if you are 16 or 17 you still cannot marry without parental consent, unless you marry in an Anglican church, in which case the congregation have the opportunity to dissent. Each parent with parental responsibility is entitled to give parental consent. In some circumstances, other people may give parental consent. In Northern Ireland a young person under 18 cannot marry without the consent of certain people. In Scotland both parties must be at least 16 years of age (parental consent is not required).
I found the following:-
Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 stated that, in England, if either party to a marriage was under 21, then they could not marry without parental consent. This Act did not apply to Scotland, where you only needed to be 16 years old to marry, as is the case today, with or without parental consent. In Scotland, a couple had only to declare their intentions to be husband and wife in the presence of two witnesses, and their word was law.
Prior to 1929, a girl could marry at the age of 12, a boy at 14, although parental consent was required. Since 1929, the lower age limit has been set at 16 years of age.