英國國教會失誤致100萬宗婚姻無效
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，由於英國國教會的一個失誤，200萬夫婦都未能成爲合法夫妻。
英國國教會律師承認說，在他們的教堂中舉行的婚禮在法律上是無效的，因爲主持婚禮的牧師唸的結婚公告詞有誤。
這一錯誤造成的影響波及了過去30年在全英國的教堂中舉行的100萬場婚禮。
這將在以後造成這樣的局面：將要離婚的夫婦可能會試圖拒付配偶的贍養費，甚至會把配偶趕出家門，理由是他們從來不曾真正結過婚。滾石樂隊的主唱米克•賈格就曾經嘗試過這一詭計，他宣稱自己和傑瑞•霍爾在巴厘島上舉行的印度教婚禮從未構成真正的婚姻。
婚姻法面臨的這一最新難題是在最高法院對女繼承人卡特琳•拉德馬赫的婚前協議判決案件之後浮出水面的。這意味着現在即將結婚的許多情侶必須考慮通過婚前協議來保護他們的財產，以規避離婚的風險。另外，政府終止對離婚的法律援助的舉動也可能會迫使人們購買離婚保險。
這也可能意味着威廉王子和凱特•米德爾頓的婚姻將是不合法的，除非英國國教會總會議昨日通過的法律變更能夠獲得皇室的同意並在明年四月婚禮舉行前成爲法律。
英國國教會的失誤涉及的是結婚公告的措辭。結婚公告必須在婚禮舉行前幾周在教堂裏宣讀三次。公告中要發問是否有任何人知道不該讓這場婚禮進行的任何正當理由。
根據1949年的婚姻法，結婚公告必須依照1662年的公禱書上寫的詞句來宣讀。這一版本中向會衆發問的措詞是：“如果你們當中的任何人知道任何理由或阻礙，認爲這兩個人不應該以神聖的婚姻之名結合在一起，（請指出來）。”
然而，1980年英國國教會引進了一本新的祈禱書《非傳統禮儀書》，同時也引進了一套新的婚禮程序和新的結婚公告詞。這一現代的結婚公告詞繼續被用於英國國教會在2006年最新採用的祈禱書《衆拜書》中。
但是，當新的祈禱書獲得國會批准時，在法律上有必要對1949年的婚姻法做出改動，使之包含新的結婚公告詞，而英國國教會的律師卻忘記做這件事了。新版本的發問措詞是：是否有任何人知道可以阻止這一婚姻的“法律上的原因”。
因此，所有在新祈禱書規定的這一形式下舉行的婚禮都是不合法的。
Vocabulary:
in the wake of: 隨……之後而來；跟隨在……後
prenup:a prenuptial agreement（婚前協議）
case of heiress Katrin Radmacher: 在這一離婚案中，法庭承認德國女富婆卡特琳·拉德馬赫（Katrin Radmacher）和前夫尼古拉·格拉納蒂諾（Nicolas Granatino）的婚前協議有效。
synod: an official meeting of Church members to discuss religious matters and make important decisions（教會會議）
banns: the announcement of a forthcoming marriage（教堂裏的）結婚公告
congregation: the group of people who belong to a particular church and go there regularly to worship （從屬某教堂並定期做禮拜的）教堂會衆
