During the 18th century the major movement regarding marriage and courtship was the change from church to state regulations. In the early 1700's, the church governed marriage laws and customs; as problems arose, such as legality and promiscuousness, legislators began to pass laws and restrictions on marriages. The shift from common law to clandestine marriages took place in the middle of the 1700's (Outhwaite, 1995). The majority of the laws that were passed prote

The aristocracy was fearful of the Fleet marriages and fought to have them stopped. Men and women of the upper class thought that the children of the wealthy would fall in love with, and elope with a prison mate, ruining the family name by being bonded to a person of low class. When the aristocracy and the church realized that they were unable to prevent these marriages they went to the law for help (Brown, 1981).

Lord Chancellor Hardwicke was the first person that was ready to make a change in the wedding laws and regulations. Hardwicke's received a lot of respect from society because of his career goals. Hardwicke's career consisted of several decades as an attorney general, chief justice and finally Lord Chancellor. Hardwicke was the chief architect of the Marriage act of 1753.In 1741 Lord Chancellor Hardwicke began to outline his ideas to end the clandestine marriages. When planning the act of 1753, Hardwicke referred back to the Marriage Act of 1653, thus stating that his act was for the preventing of future clandestine marriages in England. The bill intended to void any marriages that were not preformed by a clergyman in a church or chapel during the hours that are stated by cannon law. Verbal and written marriages and pre-contracts would be considered void, unless the pre contracts were done in the presence of two witnesses. All marriages must be registered in the parish. Public announcement would also become mandatory. If nay marriage did not follow the rules of the marriage act and were caught the marriage would become void and the two individuals would be banished for fourteen years. (Outhwaite,1995) Many people saw this act as a means of arranging alliances between great families. This law protects the rights of the wealthy by doing away with clandestine and fleet marriages, both, which were the marriages of the lower classes. The act was designed to restrict undesirable marriages between social classes and prevent the poor from marrying and reproducing themselves.

Clandestine marriages were the most common marriages before 1753, they were also the most controversial. Clandestine marriages were valid binding marriages that did not follow the rules and laws of the cannon law. No banns were read and there was no marriage license. Clandestine marriages were never preformed in churches; they were preformed in taverns, prisons and brothels. The three most common reasons why people chose to use clandestine marriages were, if a woman was pregnant, if they were of low class or if a minister refused to wed them because they did not attend church regularly (Adair, 1996)).

In 1653 the civil marriage act was passed. The civil marriage act was the first step in changing the laws of marriage. The jurisdiction from church courts to state justice of the peace was in effect. It was required to have parental consent to all marriages in which one of the people were under the age of twenty-one. The 1653 act imposed heavy penalties for the abduction or fraudulent marriages of minors. After the restoration the civil marriage act became void. Almost one hundred years later this act would be used as a foundation for the act of 1753 (Adair, 1996).

Cannon law states that the posting of banns had to be done three weeks prior to the intended wedding date. The ceremony had to take place within the parish that either the husband or wife attended. Weddings had to be done between the hours of eight a.m. and twelve p.m. (Stone, 1990).

In the 1700's it was rare for anyone to be forced into marriage. Lower class young men always had the choice of picking the partner themselves. Most children of lower class we

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