The Perils of Gretna

Posted by Galleon on September 10, 1998 at 18:40:58:

In response to Gretna Green, written by SuzanneR on September 09, 1998 at 20:44:03

I think that Scottish law required only that a couple publicly declared themselves married, or acted as though married, to be in fact legally married. This could have its dangers. There was a case, in the 1820s as far as I can remember, of a young woman, or perhaps girl, abducted to Scotland. Her abducter claimed that they were married, because she had acknowledged herself to be Mrs-- to inn servants in Scotland. However, the girl's relatives claimed the "marriage" to be invalid because the admission was made under duress. Unfortunately, I don't know how the matter ended. I believe the source in which I came across the case was House of Lords Papers for either 1824 or 1825, but at present I don't have access to this material to check; at the time that I read it, I wasn't too interested in this sort of thing. However, it strikes me that the story might not be straightforward. For the case to be heard by the House of Lords the family must have been pretty wealthy, and perhaps they were primarily trying to find some way to dissolve a marriage they didn't approve of.

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REPLIES:

• Scot's marriage law P. Bingham 20:16:50 9/10/98 (8)
  • Scottish law? Galleon 19:26:49 9/11/98 (7)
    • Gretna Green P. Bingham 20:39:13 9/11/98 (6)
      • What are fleet marriages? do you have information aboutn them? nf Constanza 09:13:39 9/14/98 (3)
        • Fleet Marriage Scandal P. Bingham 14:17:50 9/14/98 (1)
          • Wow -Gunning sister Constanza 17:09:53 9/14/98 (0)
        • Fleet Marriages SuzanneR 13:02:13 9/14/98 (0)
      • Oddities of Scottish and Irish Marriage Law SuzanneR 00:59:09 9/12/98 (1)
        • Irish laws P. Bingham 22:57:58 9/12/98 (0)

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