The Church of England was established by law in 1704. In the act for that purpose it is declared that "no justice or magistrate, being a layman, shall presume to join any persons in marriage, under penalty of one hundred pounds currant money of this province." Vestries are to provide a fit person as register of births, christenings, marriages, and burials, except those of "negroes, Mullatoes, and Indian slaves;" and a fine is prescribed for wedding contrary to the table of forbidden degrees.[792] All these provisions are repeated in the new act of 1706 for the "establishment of religious worship" in the province.[793] Six years thereafter the full text of the law of Henry VIII., "for marriages to stand notwithstanding Pre-Contracts" is adopted; and it appears again and again in the statute book until recent days.[794] [Footnote 792: _Ibid._, 242, 243; also in _N. C. Col. Rec._, II, 867-82.] [Footnote 793: COOPER, _op. cit._, II, 289-91; also in BREVARD, _Alphabetical Digest of Laws of S. C._, 41-44. In both these acts elaborate provision is made for registration.] [Footnote 794: COOPER, _op. cit._, II, 475, 476, where 32 H. VIII., c. 38, is put in force; and it is retained in _Revised Statutes_ (Columbia, 1873), 481. In 1712, likewise, a part of the statute 1 Jac. I., c. 11, regarding bigamy was adopted: COOPER, II, 508.] No further important change was made in the law before the Revolution. The act of 1706, giving a monopoly of the business of solemnizing matrimony to the established clergy, remained nominally in force. A fine could be levied for neglect of its provisions. But in the "Up" or "Back" country it was quietly disregarded; and, apparently without a contest, custom sanctioned the optional civil ceremony or optional ecclesiastical rites according to the usage of each denomination. "In the early stages of our juridical and civil history," says Brevard, "the laws of the province on this subject were in conformity to the English; but as the population ... encreased by emigrants from all countries, and of different religious denominations, this adherence to Episcopal regulations and forms was gradually relaxed, and at length generally disregarded." The church act of 1706, he adds, must have gone into "effectual and general operation." But, except partially, "it seems never to have extended farther than about sixty miles from Charleston."[795] [Footnote 795: Editorial note in BREVARD, _Alphabetical Digest of Laws of S. C._, II, 41, 42, notes.]