Special Marriage Act, 1954
Act of the Parliament of India for inter-religious and inter-faith marriage
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an act of the Parliament of India with provision for secular civil marriage (or "registered marriage") for people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrelevant of the religion or faith followed (both for inter-religious couples and also for atheists and agnostics) by either party. The Act originated from a piece of legislation proposed during the late 19th century. Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act are not governed by personal laws and are considered to be secular.
Background
Henry Sumner Maine first introduced Act III of 1872, which would permit any dissenters to marry whomever they choose under a new civil marriage law. In the final wording, the law sought to legitimize marriages for those willing to renounce their profession of faith altogether ("I do not profess the Hindu, Christian, Jewish, etc. religion"). It can apply in inter-caste and inter-religion marriages. The Bill faced opposition from local governments and administrators, who believed that it would encourage marriages based on lust, which would inevitably lead to immorality.
The Special Marriage Act, 1954 replaced the old Act III, 1872. The new enactment had three major objectives:
To provide a special form of marriage in certain cases,
to provide for registration of certain marriages and,
to provide for divorce.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Special Marriage Act, 1954” as act of the Parliament of India for inter-religious and inter-faith marriage. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as act of the Parliament of India for inter-religious and inter-faith marriage. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2812734. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1954 and 1872.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Special Marriage Act, 1954”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Special Marriage Act, 1954 primary sources, Special Marriage Act, 1954 archive and Special research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Special Marriage Act, 1954”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Special Marriage Act, 1954” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.