Thebanns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans"/ˈbænz/ (from aMiddle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted inFrankish and thence inOld French),[1] are the public announcement in a Christianparish church, or in the town council, of an impendingmarriage between two specified persons. It is commonly associated with theCatholic Church, theChurch of Sweden (Lutheran), theChurch of England (Anglican), and with otherChristian denominations whose traditions are similar. In 1983, the Catholic Church removed the requirement for banns and left it to individualnational bishops' conferences to decide whether to continue the practice, but in mostCatholic countries the banns are still published.
The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise anycanonical orcivil legal impediments to the marriage, so as to prevent invalid marriages. Impediments vary between legal jurisdictions, but would normally include a pre-existing marriage that has been neither dissolved nor annulled, a vow ofcelibacy, lack of consent, or the couple being related within aprohibited degree of kinship.
The original Catholic Canon law on the subject, intended to preventclandestine marriages, was decreed in Canon 51 of the Lateran IV Council in 1215; until then, the public announcement in church of marriages to be contracted was only made in some areas.[2] TheCouncil of Trent on 11 November 1563 (Sess. XXIV, De ref. matr., c. i) made the provisions more precise: before the celebration of any marriage, the names of the contracting parties should be announced publicly in the church during Mass, by the parish priests of both parties on three consecutive Holy Days.[3] Although the requirement was straightforward in canon law, complications sometimes arose in a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic, when one of the parties to the marriage did not have a home parish in the Roman Catholic Church.[citation needed]
Traditionally, banns were read from the pulpit and were usually published in the parish weekly bulletin. Before 1983, canon law required banns to be announced, or "asked", in the home parishes of both parties on three Sundays orHoly Days of Obligation before the marriage. Under Canon 1067 of the 1983Code of Canon Law, the norms regarding the publication of banns are to be established by each individual national or regional Conference of bishops.
In some places, the words once spoken by the priest were: "I publish the banns of marriage between (Name of party) of the Parish of........ and (Name of other party) of this Parish. If any of you know cause or just impediment why these persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is for the (first, second, third) time of asking."
Marriage licenses were introduced in the 14th century, to allow the usual notice period under banns to be waived, on payment of a fee and accompanied by a sworn declaration that there was nocanonical impediment to the marriage.
In theChurch of Sweden, the banns of marriage are announced during the "Notices", which follow the recitation of theNicene Creed.[4]
While theCouncil of Trent is best known as aCounter-Reformation Council, neither the Lutheran Church nor the Church of England broke with the Roman Catholic Church on the requirement of publication of banns (or the equivalent) before marriage. (An equivalent notice was not required in the Orthodox Christian Churches, which used another method to verify eligibility to marry.[citation needed]) The break between some Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church was over what would constitute an impediment to marriage (the Church of England, for example, recognised remarriage after divorce in some circumstances), rather than over the means by which impediments to marriage should be identified.
In England, under the provisions of theClandestine Marriages Act 1753 (26 Geo. 2. c. 33), a marriage was only legally valid if the banns had been called or a marriage licence had been obtained, codifying earlier practice within the Church of England. By this law, the banns were required to be read aloud on three Sundays before thewedding ceremony, in the home parish churches of both parties. Omission of this formality rendered the marriagevoid, unless the bishop's licence (acommon licence) or the special licence of theArchbishop of Canterbury had been obtained. This statutory requirement had the effect of requiringRoman Catholics and othernon-conformists to be married in the Church of England, a requirement lifted by legislation in 1836 (Marriage Act 1836).
Before 1754, when the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 came into force, it was possible foreloping couples to be married clandestinely by an ordained clergyman (a favourite location was theFleet Prison, a debtors' prison inLondon, in which clergymen willing to celebrate irregular marriages might be found). After the law, elopers had to leave England and Wales in order to contract a marriage while avoiding these formalities.Scotland, in particularGretna Green, the first village over the border from England, was the customary destination, but became less popular after 1856 when Scottish law was amended to require 21 days' residence. TheIsle of Man was briefly popular also, but in 1757Tynwald, the island's legislature, passed a similar Act, with the additional sanction of pillorying and ear-cropping for clergymen from overseas who married couples without banns.[5] These details often figure inmelodramatic literature set in the period.[6]
In 1656 (during the Commonwealth or Protectorate period) the parish register of St Mary le Crypt in Gloucester records banns of marriage as being "published by the Bellman" – theTown Crier.
The wording of banns according to the rites of theChurch of England is as follows:
Royal assent was given to the "Church of England Marriage (Amendment) Measure" on 19 December 2012. Prior to that, as only the Prayer Book words were enshrined in theMarriage Act 1949, that wording should arguably have been used. However, in their notes to the 2012 Measure, the Church of England's legal Office stated "In some places the alternative form, as set out in Common Worship, has been in use for some time. There is no legal difficulty with marriages that have been solemnized following the publication of the banns in that form as the legal substance of the words is the same as the form contained in the Book of Common Prayer. However there will now be a statutory basis of the use of the alternative form."[7]
The 2012 measure gave effect to two changes:
The Sunday Service of the Methodists, the first liturgical text of Methodism, contains "the opening rubric of the Prayer Book rite requiring the publication of banns, by which impediments to marriage such as consanguinity and legal betrothal to another could be revealed and investigated." These banns are to be read "over a period of three Sundays" during "the time of divine service".[8]
TheAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church (through its publication of the 1996Book of Discipline) andFree Methodist Church, both members of theWorld Methodist Council, contain a rubric for the reading of the banns:[8]
First, the Banns of all that are to be married together, must be published in the congregation, three several Sundays, in the time of Divine Service (unless they be otherwise qualified according to law) the Minister saying after the accustomed manner,I PUBLISH the Banns of marriage between M of _____, and N of _____. If any of you know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined together in holy Matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is the first, (second, or third) time of asking.[9]
The present legislation relating to banns of marriage is contained in theMarriage Act 1949[10] as amended by the Church of England Marriage (Amendment) Measure 2012.
Banns were common requirement during thecolonial era.Plymouth Colony's first marriage regulation (1636) required the banns to be read to the congregation three times, or if no congregation was in the area, publicly posted for a fifteen-day period.Quakers were allowed to announce banns in theirmeetinghouses. Noncompliance with the banns procedure carried a seriousfine in the 17th century, which could be imposed upon the groom or minister.[11] The proclaiming of the banns of marriage was also a requirement in theDutch colony ofNew Netherland.[12]
By the 19th and 20th centuries, the practice of announcing banns faded, as most religious denominations abandoned the practice or made it optional. Banns were superseded by the rise of civilmarriage license requirements, which served a similar purpose: "a declaration that no legal impediment exists to the marriages."[11] Elizabeth Freedman identifies the mid-19th century as the era in which "[g]overnmental regulation of marriage in the United States intensified" and the U.S. "reestablished jurisdiction over marriage by reviving the policing function that banns had once had, developing a series of prenuptial tests that would determine the fitness of the couple to marry..."[13]
In theCanadian province ofOntario, the publication of banns "proclaimed openly in an audible voice during divine service" in the church(es) of the betrothed remains a legal alternative to obtaining amarriage licence.[14] This was the procedure followed by the first fewsame-sex marriages in Ontario, since the province was not then issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples. The marriages were ruled valid in 2003. Banns being read once in a church ordinarily attended by both parties to the marriage is also allowed in lieu of a licence inManitoba.[15]
In the Canadian province ofQuebec, equivalent formalities are required forall marriages, although theCivil code does not use the word "banns".[16] The government does not issue licences; instead a written notice must be posted at the place of the wedding for 20 days beforehand, and the officiant verifies the eligibility of the intended spouses.
InBritish Columbia, onlyDoukhobors can be married by banns.
Many civil-law countries have different, secular pre-marriage registration and publication requirements.
InBelgium the publication requirement was introduced in 1796[17] and removed in 2000.[18]
InFinland, a forthcoming marriage was required to be announced in the home parish church of the bride on three consecutive Sundays prior to the wedding. This requirement ended with the1988 marriage lawArchived 7 October 2015 at theWayback Machine, but theEvangelical Lutheran Church of Finland continues to practise the tradition unless the couple request otherwise. The Finnish term for the banns iskuulutus avioliittoon (literally 'announcement into marriage'), orkuulutukset more shortly and colloquially.
French civil law requires the publication of banns of marriage in the towns where intended spouses are living. It should be displayed in the town hall ten days before the marriage.
German civil law required the publication of banns of marriage until 1998. The process was called "dasAufgebot bestellen". Presently, couples must still register for civil marriage beforehand, which has the same effect of ruling out immediate marriage. Still, a public proclamation or posting isn't necessary anymore.
In theNetherlands, there is a statutory requirement for couples intending to marry to formally register that intention with officials beforehand. This process is called "ondertrouw".
A second use of "thebanns" is as the prologue to a play, i.e., a proclamation made at the beginning of a medieval play announcing and summarizing the upcoming play. An example can be found in the CroxtonPlay of the Sacrament, a Middle Englishmiracle play written sometime after 1461.
