{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-scotland-act-1977/section-3F",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-scotland-act-1977/section-3F.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1977/15",
  "legislation_title": "Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/marriage-scotland-act-1977",
  "path": "section/3F",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "3F",
  "heading": "Referral of proposed marriage to Secretary of State",
  "text": "(1) On every occasion when a marriage notice is submitted under section 3, a district registrar shall decide whether or not each of the parties to the proposed marriage is an exempt person.\n(2) But this section does not apply if the parties are in a qualifying civil partnership (within the meaning of section 5(6)) with each other.\n(3) In making a decision under subsection (1) about a party to a proposed marriage, a district registrar may rely on any advice given in relation to that decision by the Secretary of State.\n(4) In a case where—\n(a) section 3A applies to the marriage notice, and\n(b) specified evidence required by section 3B(1) or (2) in relation to a party to the proposed marriage is not produced in accordance with that section,\nthe district registrar shall decide that that party to the proposed marriage is not an exempt person.\n(5) If the district registrar decides that either of the parties is not an exempt person, or that both of the parties are not exempt persons, the district registrar shall—\n(a) refer the proposed marriage to the Secretary of State;\n(b) notify the parties to the proposed marriage that the proposed marriage must be referred to the Secretary of State;\n(c) give the parties to the proposed marriage prescribed information about—\n(i) the effects of the referral;\n(ii) the requirement under regulations to notify the Secretary of State of changes of address.\n(6) The district registrar shall act in accordance with regulations when complying with the duty in subsection (5)(a) to refer a proposed marriage to the Secretary of State.\n(7) If the district registrar refers the proposed marriage to the Secretary of State, this Act has effect in relation to the proposed marriage subject to the modifications in Schedule 1A.\n(8) In this section—\n(a) a reference to a person being an exempt person has the same meaning as in section 49 of the 2014 Act;\n(b) “prescribed information” means information prescribed in regulations;\n(c) “regulations” means regulations made by the Secretary of State under section 54(2) of, and Schedule 5 to, the 2014 Act.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Ss. 3A-3F inserted (1.3.2015) by The Referral and Investigation of Proposed Marriages and Civil Partnerships (Scotland) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/396), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 2 (with art. 1(3))"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/15/section/3F",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T10:24:49.184270+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."
}