Note 1383 — Chapter X · RISE OF CIVIL MARRIAGE

Gally, Some Considerations upon Clandestine Marriages (2d ed., London, 1750). The first edition of this work appeared in 1730. It is strong evidence of the slow progress of opinion on social questions that, a century after the enlightened legislation of Cromwell, the author should have found it necessary to enter into an elaborate argument to establish the right of the state to make the observance of prescribed forms and conditions essential to a valid marriage. Sec. i assigns "some general reasons for a law to annul clandestine marriages;" sec. ii presents "what the civil law has done on this subject;" sec. iii shows "what has been done in France;" and in sec. iv six objections to the adoption of such a law are answered. Dr. Gally's book was referred to in the debates on the Hardwicke act.