The schedule deals with registration. We will come to that afterwards. Sub-section (2) reads :—
Nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person unless the father and mother of such person could have been lawfully married to one another at the time of birth of such person or at some time during the period of ten months preceding such birth.
This is different from the English section, but I think it has exactly the same effect. There has been a decision on the English section already. The English sub-section reads : " Nothing in this Act shall operate to legitimate a person whose father or mother was married to a third person when the illegitimate person was born." Of course a person who is married to a third person cannot marry. There has been a curious but a proper decision. The father and mother of the illegitimate child subsequently married, but at the date of the birth of the child the father was married to another lady. That marriage was subsequently declared void. It was a perfectly good marriage as far as Church law was concerned, but there were technical defects. It may not have been a valid marriage. It was, therefore, held that that child was legitimated although really it was the offspring of an adulteress. I think that as the Committee's views on this matter will depend some-what on its views on the schedule, we might well defer the further consideration of Section 1 until we come to the schedule.
Further consideration of Section 1 deferred accordingly.