Foreign Marriage Act 1892

The Foreign Marriage Act 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to provide legal authority for marriages of British subjects performed outside the United Kingdom. It authorised British officials abroad to perform the marriage ceremony, and set out the necessary formalities to be followed, such as notice requirements and registration of the marriage with the British government. Marriages performed under the act would then be recognised under British law as if they had been performed in the United Kingdom. The act also provided that marriages performed abroad under local laws could be registered with the British government, provided a British consular official personally witnessed the marriage.

When originally enacted in 1892, the act applied to all of Great Britain and Ireland. It was repealed in 2013 for England and Wales, and for Scotland. It was repealed in 2019 for Northern Ireland. The act is still in force in the Republic of Ireland.

Content
Until their repeal, sections of the act also defined the procedures used for consular marriages, which until recently – with the abolition of extraterritoriality for British subjects abroad or within the British Empire, the obsolescence of the class of the British Protected Person and the development of the concept of Lex loci celebrationis and the qualifications for its invocation (especially by the case of Radwan v Radwan (1972) (3 All ER 967), which effectively rendered foreign and Commonwealth consular marriages and British consular marriages alike invalid in England) in English law – allowed British subjects to get married abroad but under the matrimonial laws of England rather than foreign laws, through the British consul-general, consul, consulate or consular section.

The act also defined the procedures for marriage by members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom outside of the United Kingdom.

Amendments and repeal
The act was substantially amended by the Foreign Marriage (Amendment) Act 1988.

The act was repealed in England and Wales the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013, which came into force on 3 June 2014. The act was also repealed in Scotland. The repeal did not extend to Northern Ireland. The act was repealed in Northern Ireland by the Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019, which came into force on 13 January 2020.

The act is still in force in the Republic of Ireland, as originally enacted and containing references to "British", "the United Kingdom", "England", "the Church of England" and "British subjects". The act is considered obsolete.

Marriages overseas are now provided in Schedule 6 of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013.