Folia Theologica et Canonica, Supplementum (2016)
Hanns Engelhardt, Marriage and Divorce In Anglican Canon Law
68 HANNS ENGELHARDT 2. England In England (and Wales) the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) has declared marriages of same sex couples lawful (sec. 1 [1]). At the same time it has constituted that no canon of the Church of England which makes provision about marriage being the union of one man with one woman is contrary to Sec. 3 of the Submission of the Clergy Act 1533, which - still in force - provides that no canon shall be contrary to the Royal Prerogative or the customs, laws or statutes of the realm (sec. 1 [3]). It was further enacted that any duty of a member of the clergy to solemnize marriages and any corresponding right of persons to have their marriages solemnized by members of the clergy is not extended by this Act to marriages of same sex couples (sec. 1 [4]). Before the passing of this Act already the Church of England, in its Response to the Government Equalities Office Consultation - “Equal Civil Marriage ” - has declared that it cannot support the proposal to enable “all couples, regardless of their gender, to have a civil marriage ceremony”. It says that the Church of England holds, as a matter of doctrine and derived from the teaching of Christ himself, that marriage in general - and not just the marriage of Christians - is, in its nature, a lifelong union of one man with one woman. In particular, the rejection is based on the following grounds: • the intrinsic nature of marriage, as enshrined in human institutions since before the advent of either church or state, is the union of a man and a woman • marriage affords many benefits to society, which include mutuality, fidelity and biological complementarity with the possibility of procreation • marriage is a central and unique social institution, not to be confused with the particular ceremony through which it is entered into. 3. Nigeria Can. XVII sec. 1 explicitly defines Marriage as a “union and partnership between one man and one woman”. No surprise that there is no indication whatever that this might be changed in the foreseeable future as Nigeria belongs to those provinces which most resolutely condemn all efforts to permit or even tolerate same-sex unions.
