Vital Events Reference Tables 2003

Section 7: Marriages

The tables in this section cover all marriages which were registered as having taken place in Scotland regardless of the usual residence of the parties involved. For almost 30 per cent of the marriages registered in 2003 neither the bride nor the groom was resident in Scotland and half of these took place at Gretna. For some demographic purposes users might wish to limit analyses to specific categories of residents. Further details of available information may be obtained from Statistics Customer Services (e-mail: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk). Conversely, a number of couples who are resident in Scotland now go abroad to be married. These marriages are not included in this chapter, and only some come to the attention of the Registrar General through notification to British Consular authorities.

By the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1939, which came into operation on 1 July 1940, civil marriages were introduced and irregular marriages, other than marriages by cohabitation with habit and repute, were abolished. Although two of the three types of irregular marriage were abolished in 1940 all three types of irregular marriage can be established by Decree of Declarator of the Court of Session. The irregular marriages shown in Table 7.6 are those established by Decree of Declarator of the Court of Session in the years shown although the events took place earlier.

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