英牧师念错词 竟致100万宗婚姻无效

Two million husbands and wives are not lawfully married because of a Church of England blunder, it was revealed yesterday.

昨日有消息透露，由于英国国教会的一个失误，200万夫妇都未能成为合法夫妻。

Their church weddings are legally invalid because the vicars who married them used the wrong form of words, CofE lawyers error affects more than a million weddings celebrated over the past 30 years in churches across England.

英国国教会律师承认说，在他们的教堂中举行的婚礼在法律上是无效的，因为主持婚礼的牧师念的结婚公告词有误。这一错误造成的影响波及了过去30年在全英国的教堂中举行的100万场婚礼。

It opens the prospect that marriage partners heading for divorce may try to deny their spouse maintenance, support or even a home on the grounds that they were never really married - the trick tried by Mick Jagger when he claimed his Balinese Hindu wedding to Jerry Hall was never a real marriage.

这将在以后造成这样的局面：将要离婚的夫妇可能会试图拒付配偶的赡养费，甚至会把配偶赶出家门，理由是他们从来不曾真正结过婚。滚石乐队的主唱米克 贾格就曾经尝试过这一诡计，他宣称自己和杰瑞 霍尔在巴厘岛上举行的印度教婚礼从未构成真正的婚姻。

The latest difficulty to hit marriage law comes in the wake ofthe Supreme Court’s prenupjudgement in the case of heiressKatrin Radmacher, which means many couples marrying now must consider taking out prenup deal to protect their assets against divorce, and the Government’s move to end legal aid for divorce, which is likely to force people to take out divorce insurance.

婚姻法面临的这一最新难题是在最高法院对女继承人卡特琳 拉德马赫的婚前协议判决案件之后浮出水面的。这意味着现在即将结婚的许多情侣必须考虑通过婚前协议来保护他们的财产，以规避离婚的风险。另外，政府终止对离婚的法律援助的举动也可能会迫使人们购买离婚保险。

It may also mean the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be unlawful, unless legal changes approved by the CofE’s parliament, the General Synod, yesterday win Royal Assent and pass into law before the wedding day next April.

这也可能意味着威廉王子和凯特 米德尔顿的婚姻将是不合法的，除非英国国教会总会议昨日通过的法律变更能够获得皇室的同意并在明年四月婚礼举行前成为法律。