Every place of worship that is registered for weddings is able to appoint its own ‘authorised person’ to replace the civil registrar who would otherwise be required to attend weddings there. Nonetheless, 120 years after this option was first introduced by the Marriage Act 1898, there are still many places of worship with no authorised person. With provisional proposals for an officiant-based system having been put forward by the Law Commission, it is essential to understand why the existing option of being authorised has not been taken up more widely, and whether there would be similar issues with the Commission's proposed scheme. In this article we draw on a combination of historical and empirical research to analyse the past, present and possible future of the law in this area. The option of being authorised was, from the start, hedged around with restrictions. It is also not well understood, and some of those who wish to be authorised experience challenges in engaging with the system. Participants preferred the option of being an officiant, and their comments and experiences provide a useful insight into how the Law Commission's scheme would need to be implemented.

中文翻译：

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被授权的重要性：1898 年婚姻法的起源、限制和遗产

每个为婚礼注册的礼拜场所都可以任命自己的“授权人”来代替民事登记员，否则他们将被要求参加那里的婚礼。尽管如此，在 1898 年《婚姻法》首次引入这一选项 120 年后，仍有许多礼拜场所没有授权人。鉴于法律委员会已提出以官员为基础的制度的临时建议，有必要了解为什么现有的授权选择没有得到更广泛的采纳，以及委员会的拟议计划是否会出现类似问题. 在本文中，我们结合历史和实证研究来分析该领域法律的过去、现在和可能的未来。被授权的选择从一开始就是 用限制对冲。它也没有被很好地理解，并且一些希望获得授权的人在使用该系统时会遇到挑战。参与者更喜欢担任司仪的选择，他们的评论和经验为如何实施法律委员会的计划提供了有用的见解。