Prior to 1563 marriage required only that a couple publicly declared their intent, and usually be over 14 for a boy
and 12 for a girl. Exceptions were made, particularly for the aristocracy who used child marriages for alliance purposes.
Usually there was some sort of ceremony, Christian or pagan, but there was no legal requirement for one.
The Council of Trent, convened from 1545 until 1563, decreed that a marriage would only be valid if it were witnessed by a priest of the Roman Catholic church.
The position in England is a little unclear. Elizabeth I had been Queen for five years and was not secure on the throne.
In the early years she had a policy of tolerance towards Roman Catholics, which altered somewhat after a number of Roman Catholic plots to overthrow her.
The Marriage Duty Acts of 1694 and 1695 required that banns or licences must be obtained, and imposed a penalty of £100 on any clergyman who celebrated a marriage without obtaining one or the other.
This was largely ignored by many parishes, who were not put off by the fine, and they did not alter the status of 'common law' marriages.
It was not until the Marriage Act of 1753, known as Lord Hardwicke's Act, that the basic framework of marriage laws as applied today were set down.
This set the minimum age for marriage at the previously traditional ages of 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy and established the concept of full age for the first time.
It required all marriages to be held in a church, synagogue or meeting house in the case of Quakers, and the ceremony performed by an officer of the respective establishment.
The ceremony had to be witnessed by two people, and a record of the event to be kept in printed books.
Full age was set at 21 or on marriage. This latter point is important principally for two reasons.
If a young person who had married with parental consent wished to marry again after the death of a spouse and was still under 21 no parental consent was needed.
When the age of consent, after a lengthy campaign against child prostitution, was raised for girls to 13 in 1875 and again to 16 in 1885, this did not apply to those who were married and the minimum age for marriage remained at 12 for girls and 14 for boys until 1929.
After this date the age of consent and minimum age for marriage were both 16. The age of majority was reduced from 21 to 18 following the Family Law Reform Act 1969.
