2(1)Any person being resident in the Province may solemnize the ceremony of marriage between any two persons who are lawfully entitled to contract that marriage, if the person is duly registered under this Act and charged with the solemnization of the ceremony of marriage by a church or religious denomination

2(2)The Registrar may recognize a church or religious denomination for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) if the church or religious denomination is, to the satisfaction of the Registrar, permanently established as to the continuity of its existence in accordance with the criteria prescribed by the regulations.

2(3)A decision by the Registrar to recognize, or to refuse to recognize, a church or religious denomination may be reviewed by the Minister, and any decision of the Minister to recognize a church or religious denomination shall be deemed to be a recognition under subsection (2).

2(4)The Registrar shall keep or cause to be kept a register showing the names of every church or religious denomination recognized under subsection (2) and any other particulars that the Registrar considers advisable.

4(1)On application to the Registrar on the form provided by the Registrar, the Registrar may register an applicant as a person who is authorized to solemnize marriage in the Province, and the application may be made by the applicant or on the applicant’s behalf by the ecclesiastical authority or governing body of the church or religious denomination to which the applicant belongs.

4(2)The Registrar shall not register an applicant under subsection (1) unless the application is supported in writing by a church or religious denomination that is recognized under this Act.

4(3)The Registrar shall issue a certificate of registration to any person registered under subsection (1) and, when a request is made on reasonable grounds, may issue one or more additional certificates to that person.

5(1)The Registrar may grant temporary registration to a person who is not resident in the Province on being satisfied that the person, if that person were resident and officiating in the Province, could be registered as authorized to solemnize marriage under section 4, and may register that person as authorized to solemnize marriage in the Province during a period to be fixed by the Registrar, and any certificate of registration issued as a result shall state the fixed period during which the authority to solemnize marriage under it may be exercised.

5(2)The Registrar shall not grant a temporary registration under subsection (1) unless the request for temporary registration is supported in writing by a church or religious denomination that is recognized under this Act.

5(3)An application for registration referred to in subsection (1) shall be on a form provided by the Registrar.

8(1)At the request of any person who wishes to know if a person is registered as authorized to solemnize marriage, the Registrar shall search the register referred to in section 7 and issue a certificate in respect of the results of the search, along with any relevant particulars set out in section 7.

8(2)A certificate issued under this section that purports to be signed by the Registrar is for all purposes proof, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, of its contents without proof of the appointment, authority or signature of the Registrar who issued it and is admissible as evidence in any court of the Province.

8(3)A certificate issued under this section that purports to be signed by the Registrar is not invalid because the Registrar ceased to hold office before the issuance of the certificate.

8(4)A certificate issued under this section that purports to be signed by the Registrar is sufficient evidence of the due execution of the certificate by the Registrar for all purposes respecting the registration or filing of the certificate under any Act, and no further evidence of execution by or the signature of the Registrar is required for the purpose of registration or filing.

10(1)The ecclesiastical authority or governing body of a church or religious denomination whose clerics are registered as authorized to solemnize marriage under this Act shall notify the Registrar of the name of any cleric belonging to that church or religious denomination who

10(2)A cleric registered under this Act shall without delay notify the Registrar when the cleric moves from the Province or ceases to belong to, or for any other reason is no longer charged with the solemnization of marriage by, the church or religious denomination to which the cleric belongs or belonged.

13(1)A clerk of the Court may solemnize a marriage for which a marriage licence has been issued.

13(2)The contracting parties shall pay the fee prescribed by regulation for the solemnization of their marriage by a clerk of the Court.

13(3)If the parties to a marriage solemnized by a clerk of the Court desire a religious ceremony as well, a certificate of the clerk that he or she has solemnized the marriage shall be sufficient authorization to a cleric to perform a religious ceremony.

13(4)A clerk of the Court who solemnizes a marriage shall prepare and transmit a registration of marriage form required under the Vital Statistics Act, but a cleric who performs a religious ceremony after the marriage has been solemnized by a clerk of the Court is not required to prepare and transmit that form in respect of the marriage.

14(1)The Registrar may appoint one or more competent persons who are employed in the public service of New Brunswick, as set out in Part 1 of the First Schedule of the Public Service Labour Relations Act, to issue marriage licences under this Act.

14(2)In case of the death, disqualification, illness or temporary absence of an issuer, the Registrar may appoint an acting issuer who, during the period for which he or she is appointed, shall have and exercise all powers and authority vested by this Act in an issuer.

14(3)No action lies against an issuer or acting issuer for any act done or performed by him or her under the authority of the provisions of this Act or any regulation.

14(4)For the purposes of this Act and by virtue of his or her appointment, an issuer or acting issuer is a commissioner of oaths for taking affidavits to be read in The Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick.

15(1)Every marriage licence shall be under the hand of the Registrar and be dated on the day on which it is issued, and shall authorize the solemnization of the intended marriage at any time within three months after that date.

15(2)No irregularity in the issue of a marriage licence obtained and acted on in good faith invalidates a marriage solemnized under the licence.

15(3)Every licence under the hand of the Registrar issued for the purpose of the solemnization of a marriage is and remains valid despite that the Registrar has ceased to hold office before the time of the issue of the licence.

15(4)All unissued licences are the property of the Crown, and, whenever requested to do so by the Registrar, every issuer or any other person having unissued licences in his or her possession, power, custody or control shall transmit them to the Registrar without delay.

15(5)Every issuer shall keep a record of every marriage licence issued by him or her in the form and containing the information that may be required by the Registrar.

15(6)The record is the property of the Crown, and, whenever requested to do so by the Registrar, the issuer or any person having the record in his or her possession, power, custody or control shall transmit the record to the Registrar without delay.

17(1)An application for the issue of a marriage licence shall be made in the following manner: both parties to the intended marriage shall personally attend before the issuer and, being examined separately and apart from one another, each shall make an affidavit, on the form provided by the Registrar, that shall state the following:

17(2)The affidavits shall be taken and subscribed before the issuer to whom the application is made.

17(3)Before administering the oath to an applicant, the issuer shall see that the applicant is aware of what degrees of affinity and consanguinity are a bar to the solemnization of marriage.

17(4)The affidavits provided for in this Act shall be filed with the issuer to whom the application is made and, in case of a divorced person seeking to marry, proof of divorce, in accordance with the regulations, and in the case of a previously married and widowed person seeking to marry, proof of death, in accordance with the regulations, shall also be filed and the issuer shall transmit it to the Registrar.

17(5)When the proof of divorce or death required to be filed under subsection (4) or any part of that proof is not in the English or French language, it shall be accompanied by a translation of it satisfactory to the Registrar.

19(1)Any person on payment of a fee prescribed by regulation may lodge with any issuer a caveat against the issuing of a licence for the marriage of any person named in the caveat, and if a caveat is lodged with the issuer and is duly signed by or on behalf of the person who lodges the caveat and states that person’s place of residence and the ground of objection on which that person’s caveat is founded, no marriage licence shall be issued by the issuer until either the issuer has examined into the matter of the caveat and is satisfied that it ought not to obstruct the issuing of the licence or the caveat is withdrawn by the person who lodged it.

19(2)The issuer may in case of doubt refer the matter of the caveat to the Registrar for his or her advice.

20(1)In the case of an intended marriage, if either of the parties to it is under the age of 18 years and has not been previously married, the consent of the father and the mother of that party or, if either is dead or living apart and not contributing to the support of that person, the consent of the living or supporting parent or, if both are dead, the consent of a guardian if any has been duly appointed, shall be required before a licence is issued, which consent shall be verified by the affidavit as provided by the Registrar of the father, mother or guardian, as the case requires.

20(2)When consent is necessary under subsection (1), no licence shall be issued unless the consent is produced and the issuer is satisfied of its genuineness.

20(3)In the case of a party who is of the age of 16 years or over but under the age of 18 years and who has not been previously married, if both the father and mother are dead and there is no guardian of that party duly appointed, on the production and filing with the issuer of an affidavit of that party setting out the facts and of a duly authenticated certificate of birth of that party and on the issuer being satisfied as to the facts, the issuer may grant the licence.

20(4)When the person whose consent is required is mentally incompetent, or resides outside of the Province or unreasonably or arbitrarily refuses or withholds his or her consent to the marriage, the person in respect of whose marriage consent is required may apply by Notice of Application to a judge of The Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick for a declaration under this section, and the judge applied to shall proceed on the Notice of Application in a summary manner and, if the marriage proposed appears on cause shown to be proper, the judge shall judicially declare it to be proper, and the judge’s judicial declaration shall be as effectual for all purposes as if the person whose consent is required had consented to the marriage.

20(5)Before a licence is issued authorizing the solemnization of a marriage, the consent required by subsection (1) or the declaration of a judge under subsection (4) shall be filed with the issuer.

21(1)Except as provided in this section, no marriage of any person under the age of 16 years shall be solemnized and no licence shall be issued to a person under the age of 16 years.

21(2)Subject to subsection (3), if a party to an intended marriage is under the age of 16 years, that party may apply by Notice of Application to a judge of The Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick for a declaration under this section, and the judge applied to shall proceed on the Notice of Application in a summary manner and, if the marriage proposed appears on cause shown to be proper, the judge shall judicially declare it to be proper.

21(3)A party who makes an application under subsection (2) shall file with The Court of Queen’s Bench of New Brunswick the consent or consents and affidavits required under subsection 20(1) or, if subsection 20(3) applies, the required affidavit under that subsection and, if the required consent or consents cannot be obtained for any of the reasons mentioned in subsection 20(4), the judge applied to may dispense with the required consent or consents and may make the declaration referred to in subsection (2).

21(4)The judge to whom an application has been made under subsection (2) may require the Minister to investigate whether the proposed marriage appears to be proper and to submit to the judge a report and recommendation.

21(5)Every declaration made under subsection (2) shall be filed in a manner similar to that provided in subsection 20(5).

25(1)No marriage shall be solemnized under the authority of a licence unless the marriage takes place within three months after the day on which the licence was issued.

25(2)No marriage shall be solemnized without the presence of two or more credible witnesses who have attained the age of majority besides the person who performs the ceremony.

25(3)The licence to marry shall be left with the person who solemnized the marriage, and that person shall without delay after the solemnization endorse on the licence the date and place of the marriage and the names and descriptions of the witnesses and preserve the licence in the records of his or her church, congregation or court, as the case may be, as his or her authority for the solemnization of the marriage.

27(1)Every marriage previously solemnized in the Province in good faith before any cleric where the parties so married have cohabited in a conjugal relationship shall be deemed to be and is declared valid, despite any real or supposed want of legal authority in the cleric to solemnize the marriage, and despite the want of licence or publication of banns, if the publication was required, or the absence of witnesses under which the marriage was solemnized, or any other legal objection to it, but nothing in this section has the effect of confirming or rendering valid a marriage between parties who were not legally competent to enter into the marriage contract by reason of consanguinity, affinity or otherwise.

27(2)When it is made to appear to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council by affidavit that a marriage has been solemnized in the Province in good faith and in ignorance of the requirements of the law by a person who was not at the time duly authorized to solemnize marriage, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may by order ratify and confirm all marriages performed by that person during a period fixed by the order, or may ratify and confirm any particular marriage or marriages solemnized by that person, and on the order being made all marriages so ratified and confirmed shall be deemed to be valid from the time of the solemnization of them, but nothing in this section or in any such order has the effect of confirming or rendering valid a marriage between parties not legally competent to enter into the marriage contract by reason of consanguinity, affinity or otherwise.

29(1)A person who violates or fails to comply with section 10, subsection 15(4), 15(5), 15(6), 17(4) or 25(3) or section 26 commits an offence punishable under Part 2 of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act as a category C offence.

29(2)A person who violates or fails to comply with section 11 or 30 commits an offence punishable under Part 2 of the Provincial Offences Procedure Act as a category E offence.

31(1)The Registrar is, under the direction of the Minister, responsible for the administration of this Act, and shall perform any other duties that may be prescribed by the regulations or by the Minister.