User:The C of E/mwa

Background
The Church in Wales had been disestablished from the Church of England since 1921 following the Welsh Church Act 1914. It had the effect of severing the Church in Wales' links with canon law of the established Church of England. This meant that any Measures passed by the Church of England did not have legal force over the Church in Wales. Any changes made to the Church in Wales' legal situations must be made via an Act of Parliament as the National Assembly for Wales has no jurisdiction over ecclesiastic law or marriage law.

History
In 2008 the Church of England General Synod passed the Church of England Marriage Measure 2008 which extended the rights of marriage within their churches to allowing people to marry in churches where they had been christened or confirmed as well as in churches that their parents and grandparents had been married in. This led to the Church in Wales being anomalous with the Church of England as the Measure only applied to the Church of England. This meant that the Church in Wales continued to use the old requirements of either residency in the parish or regular church attendance for the previous six months. As the Church in Wales Governing Body's actions have no legal force in English law, legislation from Parliament was required to bring the Church in Wales into line with the Church of England.

In 2009, the Governing Body debated and accepted Private Members’ Motion (No 09/13) which requested that the Church in Wales take steps to bring the church's marriage regulations into line with those of the Church of England. The Marriage (Wales) Bill was brought forward as a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords by the chairman of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, Lord Rowe-Beddoe. The text of which was drafted by the Church in Wales' Governing Body. It passed through the House of Lords without amendment. In the House of Commons, the bill was sponsored by the Labour Co-operative MP Alun Michael. The act received Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II on 18 March 2010 before the dissolution of Parliament. The Marriage (Wales) Act 2010 was viewed by academics as being an example of a disestablished church enjoying the privileges of establishment but without the legal ability to self-regulate itself and requiring primary legislation to make desired changes.