Bidspirit auction | (ANGLO-JUDAICA). [Parliamentary Act.] An Act

(ANGLO-JUDAICA). [Parliamentary Act.] An Act to Remove Doubts as to Quakers and Jews Marriages Solemnized Before Certain Periods. [10 & 11 Vict., c. 58]. Woodcut royal coat of arms. One page. Disbound single leaf. Folio. London, George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 2nd July, 1847. The Act declared that marriages among Jews (before April 1, 1837, in England; April 1, 1845, in Ireland) and among Quakers, according to their own customs, were valid in law, and so protecting the legitimacy of couples.  The 1844 case ‘R vs. Millis’ held that only marriages conducted by an Anglican clergyman were valid in English common law, throwing the legitimacy of Quaker and Jewish marriages into doubt.  The Act affirmed the exemption of Quakers and Jews from the strict requirements of the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 and later Marriage Act 1836, recognizing their traditions as legal.  The special provisions only applied when both parties were Quaker or Jewish. The legislation was crucial for protecting family rights and inheritance for those religious minorities during a period of transition in British marriage law.