17. If persons residing in the parish present themselves for Holy Communion as married, a clergyman has no right, (_a_) in the absence of any ground for suspicion to the contrary, to demand proof of their marriage before admitting them, or (_b_) to refuse to admit them on a mere suspicion that they are not married and therefore living in sin. If he refuses them Communion, he must be prepared to show either (_a_) that they actually are not married, or (_b_) that he had good grounds for believing this to be the case. He is bound to recognise as man and wife persons who have been duly married according to the law affecting them at the time of the marriage, whether ecclesiastically or civilly, and whether in this country or elsewhere; provided that the law was Christian and monogamous; for a marriage according to a law, custom, or rite which contemplates polygamous unions is void in our law.[265] If there is any doubt as to the validity of their marriage, he will always be on the safe side in adopting the affirmative view and acting upon the assumption of their being validly married. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, the law will presume a valid marriage from the fact of long reputation and cohabitation as man and wife, without actual proof of the ceremony having taken place.[266] A marriage is legally valid if performed according to the mode and with the formalities required by the law of the place where it is solemnised.[267] But the capacity of the parties to contract marriage is governed by the law of their domicile; and therefore persons domiciled in this country between whom a marriage would be illegal here, cannot contract a lawful marriage by going for the purpose into another country where such a marriage is legal, and there going through the ceremony.[268] Under the English common law a marriage between British subjects in a foreign country or on board ship, where no statute law binding upon them imposes any further formalities, is recognised as valid in this country if solemnised without banns or licence in the presence of a clergyman of the Church of England, whether priest or deacon (not being one of the parties to it).[269] A marriage between British subjects may also be solemnised outside the United Kingdom in accordance with the regulations of the Foreign Marriage Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 23), before a person authorised thereunder to act as a marriage officer, as it might have been before that Act under the Acts thereby repealed. Footnotes [213] Davis _v._ Black (1841) 1 Q. B. 900; Reg. _v._ James (1850) 3 C. & K. 167. [214] (1823) 4 Geo. 4, c. 76, ss. 21, 22. [215] _Ib._ s. 2.