Clergy and ministers cannot be compelled to solemnize, or allow the solemnization of, certain marriages.
Marriage (Declaration of Law) Act (Northern Ireland) 1944 An Act to remove doubts as to the effect of certain enactments or rules of law in their relation to the solemnization of marriages of divorced persons and marriages to which the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Acts (Northern Ireland) 1907 to 1924, apply. No clergyman in holy orders or minister of any religious denomination shall be compelled, by virtue of any provision in the Acts set out in Part I of the Schedule to this Act or any other enactment or any rule of law, to solemnize the marriage of any person whose former marriage has been dissolved on any ground and whose former husband or wife is still living, or to permit the marriage of any such person to be solemnized in the church, chapel or other place of public worship of which he is the minister. No clergyman in holy orders or minister of any religious denomination shall be compelled, by virtue of any provision in the Acts set out in Part II of the Schedule to this Act or any other enactment or any rule of law, to solemnize a marriage which, apart from Article 18 of the Family Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984, would have been void by reason of the relationship of the persons to be married,, or to permit such a marriage to be solemnized in the church, chapel or other place of public worship of which he is the minister. This Act may be cited as the Marriage (Declaration of Law) Act (Northern Ireland), 1944. The Marriages (Ireland) Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c.81). … Part III of the Family Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984 1993 NI 6 1978 NI 15 1984 NI 14