{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-act-1949/section-76",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-act-1949/section-76.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/76",
  "legislation_title": "Marriage Act 1949",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-act-1949",
  "path": "section/76",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "76",
  "heading": "Offences relating to registration of marriages.",
  "text": "(1) Any person who refuses or without reasonable cause omits to register any marriage which he is required by this Act to register, and any person having the custody of a marriage register book or a certified copy of a marriage register book or part thereof who carelessly loses or injures the said book or copy or carelessly allows the said book or copy to be injured while in his keeping, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.\n(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(3) Any registrar who knowingly and wilfully registers any marriage which is void by virtue of any of the provisions of Part III of this Act shall be guilty of felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.\n(4) The balance of any sum paid or recovered on account of a fine imposed under subsection (1) ... of this section after making any such payments in respect of court or police fees as are mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1) of section five of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, 1914, shall be paid—\n(a) ... into the Exchequer; ...\n(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(5) Subject as may be prescribed, a superintendent registrar may prosecute any person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) committed within his district, and any costs incurred by the superintendent registrar in prosecuting such a person, being costs which are not otherwise provided for, shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.\n(6) No prosecution under subsection (3) of this section shall be commenced after the expiration of three years from the commission of the offence.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words substituted by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 38, 46"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "S. 76(2) omitted (1.8.2021) by virtue of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(10)(b), Sch. 1 para. 45(2) (with Sch. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in s. 76(4) omitted (1.8.2021) by virtue of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(10)(b), Sch. 1 para. 45(3)(a) (with Sch. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in s. 76(4)(a) omitted (1.8.2021) by virtue of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(10)(b), Sch. 1 para. 45(3)(b) (with Sch. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "S. 76(4)(b) and word omitted (1.8.2021) by virtue of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(10)(b), Sch. 1 para. 45(3)(c) (with Sch. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in s. 76(5) substituted (1.8.2021) by The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411), reg. 1(10)(b), Sch. 1 para. 45(4) (with Sch. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1914 c. 58."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/76/section/76",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T11:20:09.980125+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}