# Marriage Act 1949, Section 5: Methods of authorising marriages.

Extent: E+W

(1) A marriage according to the rites of the Church of England may be solemnized—
(a) after the publication of banns of matrimony;
(b) on the authority of a special licence of marriage granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury or any other person by virtue of the Ecclesiastical Licences Act, 1533 (in this Act referred to as a “special licence”);
(c) on the authority of a licence of marriage (other than a special licence) granted by an ecclesiastical authority having power to grant such a licence (in this Act referred to as a “common licence”); or
(d) on the authority of a marriage schedule under Part III of this Act.
(2) Subsection (1)(a) of this section shall not apply in relation to the solemnization of any marriage mentioned in subsection (2) of section 1 of this Act.
(3) In a case where one or both of the persons whose marriage is to be solemnized is not a relevant national—
(a) subsection (1)(a) shall not apply unless the banns are published in accordance with section 14 (whether or not the banns are also published otherwise);
(b) subsection (1)(c) shall not apply.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/76/section/5 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-act-1949/section-5
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.