Gretna green marriage, a marriage celebrated at Gretna, in Dumfries (bordering on the county of Cumberland), in Scotland. By the law of Scotland a valid marriage may be contracted by consent alone before witnesses without any other formality. See PER VERBA DE PR'SENTI.
A marriage entered into in a jurisdiction other than where the parties reside to avoid some legal impediment that exists where they live; a runaway marriage, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 709.
When Lord Hardwicke's repealed Marriage Act of 1753 (26 Geo. 2, c. 33), rendered the publication
of banns (or a licence) necessary in England, it became usual for persons who wished to marry clandestinely to go to Gretna Green, the nearest part of Scotland, and marry according to the Scotch law; so a sort of chapel was built at Gretna Green, in which the English marriage service was performed by the village blacksmith; as to the validity of such marriages, see Hubback on Succession. But by the Marriage (Scotland) Act, 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 96), s. 1, after 31st December,1856, no marriage contracted in Scotland by declaration, acknowledgement, or ceremony is valid, unless one of the parties had, at the date thereof, his or her usual place of residence there, or had lived in Scotland for twenty-one days next preceding such marriage, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.
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