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Marriage of Lunatics Act 1811^[1]
Act of Parliament
	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act further to prevent the Marriage of Lunatics.
Citation	51 Geo. 3. c. 37
Dates
Royal assent	31 May 1811
Repealed	1 February 2021
Other legislation
Repealed by	Mental Health Act 1959; Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960; Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015;
Relates to	Marriage of Lunatics Act 1741
Status: Repealed

The Marriage of Lunatics Act 1811 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom implemented under the reign of George III of Great Britain. It was intended "to prevent the marriage of Lunatics" and make all marriages to Lunatics prior to and after the bill, whether diagnosed before marriage or otherwise, "null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever".^[2]

The act reads as follows:

Whereas an Act was made in the Parliament of Great Britain in the fifteenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second to prevent the marriage of lunatics: And whereas it is expedient that the provisions of the said Act should be extended to Ireland: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the expiration of ten days after the passing of this Act, in case any person who has been or at any time hereafter shall be found a lunatic by any inquisition taken or to be taken by virtue of a commission under the great seal of Great Britain or the great seal of Ireland respectively, or any lunatic or person under a phrenzy, whose person and estate by virtue of any Act of Parliament now or hereafter shall be committed to the care and custody of particular trustees, shall marry before he or she shall be declared of sane mind by the lord high chancellor of Great Britain or Ireland or the lord keeper or lords commissioners of the great seal of Great Britain or Ireland for the time being or such trustees as aforesaid or the major part of them respectively, as the nature of the case shall require, every such marriage shall be and is hereby declared to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

The act was fully repealed in 2021 on the commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 in the Republic of Ireland.^[3]^[4]^[5] It had earlier been repealed in the United Kingdom by the Mental Health Act 1959 and the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960.

References

^ The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised for the United Kingdom by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
^ "Marriage of Lunatics Act, 1811". www.irishstatutebook.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^ "Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015". www.justice.ie. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
^ "Repeal of 200-year-old law preventing wards of courts marrying is welcomed". Irish Times. 2 February 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
^ "Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015" (PDF). www.oireachtas.ie. 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2018.