To The Editor Of The Time...
Sir,-As I cnnsider it tihe uty of every individual to expose for the public good any bad practice coming tinder observation, I beg to make known the tfllowing facts :-I attended a few days since at a church within this metropolis to witness the solemnization of a mar- riage about to take place there between two friends of mine, and af- tcrthe ceremony at the altar was perfonned, we adjourned to the vestry-om, for the purposcof registesing their .narriagwe. Judge of myvsrprise, Sir, when I heard the parties required by the Minister to sign their naxmles to the printed forin of the register of their mar- riage, before lie had properly filled it tip with their nan,es and de- scriptions, which they did ; and upon my being requetted to sign nmine as a wvitniess to such marriage, ! declined itoingso, andl express- ed my astonilshment to the Mlinister that such should be the prac- tice. He informed me it was quite coninion (which, upon inquiry, I find to be the case), and that it is done so for the sake of accuracy anc despatch; and he, notwithstanding my objection. actually ob- tained the signatuire of another person as a witness in mv stead. It must be obvious to every one, that the first reason assiicned for this practice is bad ; for it iscthe dlutv, and, I presume, the practice of persons witnessing the register of a marriage, to see that such re- gister is correct before tbey sign their namnes as witnesses thereto. l ith respect to the second, it is a mere excuse, and iutterly at va- riance with truth ; for the Alinister filled up a certificate (which otught to bc a true copy of the register), wvithout heing asked for it, and which, in fact, the parties did not require. The love of gain can betbe onlv motive fbr this practice. I shall be obliged bv some of voiir reRders informing Me, through the medium of your valuable jouimal, if marriages thus solemnized are strictly legal; or wvhether registers of marriages made in this manner would be received in a Court of Justice as evidence of such marriasess? In thr i,oP neFthi -ti... h A I remain yvour verv ohedirnt Aetvn,t R. S. Ibs, Upper Seymour-street, _'ortman-sqLuare. April Ml. TO TH1E EDITOR OF THIE 7TMES.