英牧師唸錯詞 竟致100萬宗婚姻無效

Two million husbands and wives are not lawfully married because of a Church of England blunder, it was revealed yesterday.

昨日有消息透露，由於英國國教會的一個失誤，200萬夫婦都未能成爲合法夫妻。

Their church weddings are legally invalid because the vicars who married them used the wrong form of words, CofE lawyers error affects more than a million weddings celebrated over the past 30 years in churches across England.

英國國教會律師承認說，在他們的教堂中舉行的婚禮在法律上是無效的，因爲主持婚禮的牧師唸的結婚公告詞有誤。這一錯誤造成的影響波及了過去30年在全英國的教堂中舉行的100萬場婚禮。

It opens the prospect that marriage partners heading for divorce may try to deny their spouse maintenance, support or even a home on the grounds that they were never really married - the trick tried by Mick Jagger when he claimed his Balinese Hindu wedding to Jerry Hall was never a real marriage.

這將在以後造成這樣的局面：將要離婚的夫婦可能會試圖拒付配偶的贍養費，甚至會把配偶趕出家門，理由是他們從來不曾真正結過婚。滾石樂隊的主唱米克 賈格就曾經嘗試過這一詭計，他宣稱自己和傑瑞 霍爾在巴厘島上舉行的印度教婚禮從未構成真正的婚姻。

The latest difficulty to hit marriage law comes in the wake ofthe Supreme Court’s prenupjudgement in the case of heiressKatrin Radmacher, which means many couples marrying now must consider taking out prenup deal to protect their assets against divorce, and the Government’s move to end legal aid for divorce, which is likely to force people to take out divorce insurance.

婚姻法面臨的這一最新難題是在最高法院對女繼承人卡特琳 拉德馬赫的婚前協議判決案件之後浮出水面的。這意味着現在即將結婚的許多情侶必須考慮通過婚前協議來保護他們的財產，以規避離婚的風險。另外，政府終止對離婚的法律援助的舉動也可能會迫使人們購買離婚保險。

It may also mean the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be unlawful, unless legal changes approved by the CofE’s parliament, the General Synod, yesterday win Royal Assent and pass into law before the wedding day next April.

這也可能意味着威廉王子和凱特 米德爾頓的婚姻將是不合法的，除非英國國教會總會議昨日通過的法律變更能夠獲得皇室的同意並在明年四月婚禮舉行前成爲法律。