“Whereas many marriages have been contracted in this Province at a time when it was impossible to observe the forms prescribed by law for the solemnization thereof, by reason that there was no Protestant parson or minister duly ordained, residing in any part of the said Province, nor any consecrated Protestant church or chapel within the same, and whereas the parties having contracted such marriages, and their issue may therefore be subjected to various disabilities, in order to quiet the minds of such persons and to provide for the future solemnization of marriage within this Province, be it enacted and declared by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada, that the marriage and marriages of all persons, not being under any canonical disqualification to contract matrimony, that have been publicly contracted before any magistrate or commanding officer of a post, or adjutant, or surgeon of a regiment, acting as chaplain, or any other person in any public office or employment, before the passing of this Act, shall be confirmed and considered to all intents and purposes as good and valid in law, and that the parties who have contracted such marriages, and the issue thereof, may become severally entitled to all the rights and benefits, and subject to all the obligations arising from marriage and consanguinity, in as full and ample a manner as if the said marriages had respectively been solemnized according to law. “And be it further enacted, that in order to enable those persons who may be desirous of preserving the testimony of such marriage, and of the birth of their children, it shall and may be lawful, at any time, within three years from the passing of this Act, for any magistrate of the district where any such parties as may have contracted matrimony as aforesaid, shall reside, at the request of either of said parties, to administer to each an oath that they were married on a certain day, and that there is now living issue of the marriage.” This attestation to be subscribed to by the parties and certified by the magistrate. The Clerk of the Peace recorded these certificates in a register for the purpose, which thereafter was considered sufficient evidence of such matters.