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Uganda

Marriage Act
Chapter 251

Legislation as at 10 March 2014

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Marriage Act
Contents
1. Interpretation .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Constitution of marriage districts ............................................................................................................................................................. 1

3. Appointment of registrars ............................................................................................................................................................................ 1

4. Offices of registrars ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 1

5. Places of worship to be licensed .............................................................................................................................................................. 1

6. Notice of marriage .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 2

7. Signature of notice by person unable to write or to understand English .................................................................................. 2

8. Registrars to supply forms of notice free of cost ............................................................................................................................... 2

9. Notice to be entered in Marriage Notice Book and published ...................................................................................................... 2

10. Registrar to issue certificate on proof of conditions by affidavit ................................................................................................ 2

11. Marriage to take place within three months after date of notice .............................................................................................. 3

12. Minister’s power to grant licence to marry ......................................................................................................................................... 3

13. Caveat may be entered against issue of certificate ......................................................................................................................... 3

14. When caveat entered question to be referred to court ................................................................................................................. 3

15. Removal of caveat ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

16. Compensation and costs ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3

17. Consent to marriage of minors ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

18. Signature of consent by person unable to write or to understand English ............................................................................ 4

19. Consent where no parent or guardian capable of consenting .................................................................................................... 4

20. Marriage in licensed place of worship by recognised minister ................................................................................................... 4

21. Minister not to celebrate marriage if impediment nor without licence, etc. .......................................................................... 4

22. Place of celebration of marriage ............................................................................................................................................................ 4

23. Registrars etc. to be provided with books of certificates .............................................................................................................. 4

24. Entries to be made in marriage certificate ......................................................................................................................................... 5

25. Signature of certificate in duplicate ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

26. Marriage in a registrar’s office ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

27. Marriage certificate to be signed ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

28. Marriage under Minister’s licence ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

29. Conversion of marriage by customary law into legally binding marriage ............................................................................... 6

30. Facilities for marriages between British subjects resident in Uganda and British subjects resident in England, etc.
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

31. Marriage certificates to be registered ................................................................................................................................................... 7

32. Correction of clerical errors in marriage certificates ...................................................................................................................... 7

33. Evidence of marriage .................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

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34. Circumstances invalidating marriage .................................................................................................................................................... 7

35. Marriages under this Act valid ................................................................................................................................................................ 8

36. Marriages under customary law .............................................................................................................................................................. 8

37. Certain expenses to be defrayed from public funds ........................................................................................................................ 8

38. Fees .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

39. Fee may be remitted ................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

40. Minister may receive customary fees .................................................................................................................................................... 8

41. Bigamy .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8

42. Marriage with a person previously married ....................................................................................................................................... 8

43. Making false declarations, etc. for marriage ...................................................................................................................................... 8

44. False pretence of impediment to marriage ........................................................................................................................................ 9

45. Unlawfully performing marriage ceremony ........................................................................................................................................ 9

46. Wilful neglect of duty to fill up or transmit certificate of marriage .......................................................................................... 9

47. Personation in marriage ............................................................................................................................................................................. 9

48. Fictitious marriage ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

49. Contracting marriage when already married by customary law ................................................................................................. 9

50. Contracting marriage by customary law when already married under this Act ..................................................................... 9

51. Forms .............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 10

First Schedule (Section 6) .............................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Second Schedule (Section 38) ...................................................................................................................................................................... 16

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Marriage Act Uganda

Uganda

Marriage Act
Chapter 251
Commenced on 1 April 1904

[This is the version of this document from 10 March 2014.]

[Amended by Marriage Act (Amendment of Second Schedule)

Order, 2005 (Statutory Instrument 56 of 2005) on 17 June 2005]
[Amended by Marriage (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order,
2014 (Statutory Instrument 25 of 2014) on 10 March 2014]

An Act to make provision for marriages.

1. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) “district” means a marriage district constituted under this Act;

(b) “registrar” means a registrar of marriages, and includes a deputy registrar when acting as
registrar;

(c) “Registrar General” means any officer appointed to act as Registrar General for the purposes of
this Act.

2. Constitution of marriage districts

The Minister shall, by statutory order, divide Uganda into districts for the purposes of this Act, herein
referred to as marriage districts, and may, from time to time by like order, alter the marriage districts,
either by alteration of boundaries or by union or subdivision of districts, or by the formation of new
districts.

3. Appointment of registrars

(1) The Minister shall, from time to time, appoint a fit and proper person to be the registrar of
marriages for each marriage district, and may revoke such appointments; and may also from time
to time appoint a deputy registrar of marriages for any district to act in the absence or during the
illness or incapacity of the registrar, and may revoke such appointment.

(2) For the purposes of this section, absence means absence from the place at which, as provided by
section 4, the office of the registrar is situate.

4. Offices of registrars
Every registrar shall have an office at such place in his or her district as the Minister shall from time to
time direct.

5. Places of worship to be licensed

The Minister may license any place of public worship to be a place for the celebration of marriages, and
may at any time cancel such licence, and in either case he or she shall give notice thereof in the Gazette.

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Marriage Act Uganda

Preliminaries to marriage

6. Notice of marriage
Whenever any persons desire to marry, one of the parties to the intended marriage shall sign and give to
the registrar of the district in which the marriage is intended to take place a notice in Form A in the First
Schedule to this Act.

7. Signature of notice by person unable to write or to understand English

If the person giving the notice of marriage is unable to write or is insufficiently acquainted with the
English language, or both, then it shall be sufficient if he or she places his or her mark or cross to the
notice in the presence of some literate person who shall attest to it, which attestation shall be in Form B
in the First Schedule to this Act.

8. Registrars to supply forms of notice free of cost

Every registrar shall supply forms of notice gratuitously to any persons applying for them.

9. Notice to be entered in Marriage Notice Book and published

(1) Upon receipt of a marriage notice the registrar shall cause it to be entered in a book to be called
the “Marriage Notice Book” which may be inspected during office hours without fee.

(2) The registrar shall also publish the notice by causing a copy of it to be affixed on the outer door
of his or her office, and to be kept exposed there until he or she grants his or her certificate under
section 10, or until three months have elapsed.

10. Registrar to issue certificate on proof of conditions by affidavit

(1) The registrar, at any time after the expiration of twenty-one days and before the expiration of
three months from the date of the notice, upon payment of the prescribed fee, shall thereupon
issue his or her certificate in Form C in the First Schedule to this Act; except that he or she shall
not issue the certificate until he or she has been satisfied by affidavit—

(a) that one of the parties has been resident within the district in which the marriage is
intended to be celebrated at least fifteen days preceding the granting of the certificate;

(b) that each of the parties to the intended marriage (not being a widower or widow) is twenty-
one years old, or that, if he or she is under that age, the consent hereafter made requisite
has been obtained in writing and is annexed to the affidavit;

(c) that there is not any impediment of kindred or affinity, or any other lawful hindrance to the
marriage;

(d) that neither of the parties to the intended marriage is married by customary law to any
person other that the person with whom such marriage is proposed to be contracted.

(2) The affidavit required by subsection (1) may be sworn before the registrar or before a magistrate.

(3) The registrar or magistrate taking the affidavit required by subsection (1) shall explain to the
person making it the prohibited degrees of kindred and affinity and the penalties which may be
incurred under other provisions of this Act.

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Marriage Act Uganda

11. Marriage to take place within three months after date of notice
If the marriage shall not take place within three months after the date of the notice, the notice and all
proceedings consequent on it shall be void; and fresh notice must be given before the parties can lawfully
marry.

12. Minister’s power to grant licence to marry

The Minister, upon proof being given to him or her by affidavit that there is no lawful impediment to
the proposed marriage, and that the necessary consent, if any, to the marriage has been obtained, may,
if he or she shall think fit, dispense with the giving of notice, and with the issue of the certificate of the
registrar, and may grant his or her licence, which shall be according to Form D in the First Schedule
to this Act, authorising the celebration of a marriage between the parties named in that licence by a
registrar, or by a recognised minister of some religious denomination or body.

13. Caveat may be entered against issue of certificate

Any person whose consent to a marriage is required by this Act, or who may know of any just cause why
the marriage should not take place, may enter a caveat against the issue of the registrar’s certificate,
by writing at any time before its issue the word “Forbidden” opposite to the entry of the notice in the
Marriage Notice Book, and appending to the word his or her name and place of abode, and the grounds
upon or by reason of which he or she claims to forbid the issue of the certificate; and the registrar shall
not issue his or her certificate until the caveat shall be removed under sections 14 to sections 16.

14. When caveat entered question to be referred to court

Whenever a caveat is entered against the issue of a certificate, the registrar shall refer the matter to
the High Court, and that court shall thereupon summon the parties to the intended marriage, and the
person by whom the caveat is entered, and shall require the person by whom the caveat is entered to
show cause why the registrar should not issue his or her certificate, and shall hear and determine the case
in a summary way, and the decision of the High Court shall be final.

15. Removal of caveat

(1) If the High Court decides that the certificate ought to be issued, the judge shall remove the caveat
by cancelling the word “Forbidden” in the Marriage Notice Book in ink, and writing in the Marriage
Notice Book, immediately below that entry and cancellation, the words “Cancelled by order of the
High Court” and signing his or her name to the removal of the caveat.

(2) The registrar shall then issue his or her certificate and the marriage may proceed as if the caveat
had not been entered, but the time that has elapsed between the entering and the removal of the
caveat shall not be computed in the period of three months specified in section 10.

16. Compensation and costs

The High Court may award compensation and costs to the party injured, if it appears that a caveat was
entered on insufficient grounds.

Consent to marriage in certain cases necessary

17. Consent to marriage of minors

If either party to an intended marriage, not being a widower or widow, is under twenty-one years of
age, the written consent of the father, or if he is dead or of unsound mind or absent from Uganda, of the

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Marriage Act Uganda

mother, or if both are dead or of unsound mind or absent from Uganda, of the guardian of that party,
must be produced annexed to the affidavit as required by section 10 before a licence can be granted or a
certificate issued.

18. Signature of consent by person unable to write or to understand English

(1) If the person required to sign a consent to marriage is unable to write, or is insufficiently
acquainted with the English language, or both, then he or she shall sign his or her consent by
placing his or her mark or cross to the consent in the presence of any judge, magistrate, justice of
the peace, district commissioner, chief registrar of the High Court, registrar of marriages, registrar
of deeds, medical officer in the service of the Government or minister of religion.

(2) The signature made under subsection (1) shall be attested by a person specified in that subsection
in Form B in the First Schedule to this Act.

19. Consent where no parent or guardian capable of consenting

If there is no parent or guardian of the party under twenty-one years of age residing in Uganda and
capable of consenting to the marriage, then the Minister or a judge of the High Court may consent to the
marriage in writing, upon being satisfied after due inquiry that the marriage is a proper one; and that
consent shall be as effectual as if the father or mother had consented.

Celebration of marriage

20. Marriage in licensed place of worship by recognised minister

(1) Marriages may be celebrated in any licensed place of worship by any recognised minister of the
church, denomination or body to which the place of worship belongs, and according to the rites or
usages of marriages observed in that church, denomination or body.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the marriage shall be celebrated with open doors between the
hours of eight o’clock in the forenoon and six o’clock in the afternoon, and in the presence of two
or more witnesses besides the officiating minister.

21. Minister not to celebrate marriage if impediment nor without licence, etc.
A minister shall not celebrate any marriage if he or she knows of any just impediment to the marriage,
nor until the parties deliver to him or her the registrar’s certificate or the Minister’s licence.

22. Place of celebration of marriage

A minister shall not celebrate any marriage except in a building which has been duly licensed by the
Minister, or in such place as the Minister’s licence may direct.

23. Registrars etc. to be provided with books of certificates

(1) The Minister shall cause to be printed and delivered to the several registrars and to the recognised
ministers of licensed places of worship, books of marriage certificates in duplicate and with
counterfoils in Form E in the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) The books of marriage certificates shall be kept by the several registrars and the recognised
ministers for the time being of the licensed places of worship under lock and key and be in custody
of those registrars and ministers respectively.

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Marriage Act Uganda

24. Entries to be made in marriage certificate

Immediately after the celebration of any marriage by a minister, the officiating minister shall fill out in
duplicate a marriage certificate with the particulars required by Form E, and state also and enter in the
counterfoil the number of the certificate, the date of the marriage, names of the parties and the names of
the witnesses.

25. Signature of certificate in duplicate

(1) The certificate shall then be signed in duplicate by the officiating minister, by the parties and by
two or more witnesses to the marriage.

(2) The minister having also signed his or her name to the counterfoil, shall sever the duplicate
certificate therefrom, and shall deliver one certificate to the parties, and shall within seven days
thereafter transmit the other to the registrar of marriages for the district in which the marriage
takes place, who shall file it in his or her office.

26. Marriage in a registrar’s office

After the issue of a certificate under section 10 or 15, or of a licence under section 12, the parties may, if
they think fit, contract a marriage before a registrar, in the presence of two witnesses in his or her office,
with open doors, between the hours of ten o’clock in the forenoon and four o’clock in the afternoon, and
in the following manner—

The registrar, after production to him or her of the certificate or licence, shall, either directly or through
an interpreter, address the parties thus—

“Do I understand that you (name), and you (name), come here for the purpose of becoming man and
wife?”

If the parties answer in the affirmative, he or she shall proceed thus—

“Know you that by the public taking of each other as man and wife in my presence, and in the presence
of the persons now here, and by the subsequent attestation of that taking by signing your names to that
effect, you become legally married to each other, although no other rite of a civil or religious nature shall
take place, and that this marriage cannot be dissolved during your lifetime, except by a valid judgment
of divorce; and if either of you before the death of the other shall contract another marriage while this
remains undissolved, you will be thereby guilty of bigamy and liable to punishment for that offence.”

Each of the parties shall then say to the other—

“I call upon all persons here present to witness that I, (name), do take thee, (name), to be my lawful wife
(or husband)”.

27. Marriage certificate to be signed

The registrar shall then fill out, and he or she and the parties and witnesses shall sign, the certificate of
the marriage in duplicate, and the registrar shall then fill out and sign the counterfoil as prescribed in
section 24 in the case of a marriage by a minister, and shall deliver one certificate to the parties and shall
file the other in his or her office.

28. Marriage under Minister’s licence

Whenever the Minister’s licence authorises the celebration of marriage at a place other than a licensed
place of worship, or the office of a registrar of marriages, the registrar of the district in which the
marriage is intended to take place, upon the production of the licence, shall deliver to the person
producing it a blank certificate of marriage in duplicate, and the minister or registrar celebrating the

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Marriage Act Uganda

marriage shall fill out the certificate, and observe strictly all the formalities hereinbefore prescribed as to
marriages in a licensed place of worship, or registrar’s office, as the case may be.

29. Conversion of marriage by customary law into legally binding marriage

Whenever after the 1st July, 1914, any persons already married or professing to be married to each other
by customary law desire to convert that marriage into a marriage by which they are legally bound to each
other as man and wife so long as both shall live by a ceremony before a registrar, such provisions of this
Act as apply to a marriage before a registrar under section 26 shall apply to the conversion as though it
were a marriage under that section; but in that case the Forms G, H, I, J and K in the First Schedule to this
Act shall be used in lieu of the Forms A, C, D, E and F and the following forms shall be used in lieu of, and
shall have the same effect as, those provided in section 26.

In lieu of the first form set out there, the following—

“Do I understand that you (name), and you (name), have been heretofore married to each other by
customary law and that you come here for the purpose of binding yourselves legally to each other as man
and wife so long as both of you shall live?”

In lieu of the second form set out there, the following—

“Whereas you (name), and you (name), profess that you have been heretofore married to each other by
customary law and whereas that marriage does not bind you by law to each other as man and wife so long
as both of you shall live and whereas you desire to bind yourselves legally each to the other as man and
wife so long as both of you shall live: Know you that by the public taking of each other as man and wife
so long as both of you shall live, in my presence and in the presence of the persons now here, and by the
subsequent attestation of that taking by signing your names to that effect, you become legally bound to
each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall live although no other rite of a civil or religious
nature shall now take place, and that hereafter your marriage cannot be dissolved during your lifetime,
except by a valid judgment of divorce; and if either of you before the death of the other shall illegally
contract another marriage while your marriage to each other remains undissolved, you will be thereby
guilty of bigamy, and liable to punishment for that offence.”

And in lieu of the third form set out there, the following—

“I call upon all persons here present to witness that I, (name), take you (name), to be my lawful wife (or
husband) so long as both of us shall live.”

30. Facilities for marriages between British subjects resident in Uganda and British
subjects resident in England, etc.

(1) Where marriage is intended to be solemnised or contracted in Uganda between a British subject
resident in Uganda and a British subject resident in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the
Republic of Ireland, a certificate of marriage issued in England by a superintendent registrar or a
certificate for marriage issued by a registrar, or a certificate of proclamation of banns in Scotland,
or a certificate for marriage issued by a registrar in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland
shall in Uganda have the same effect as a certificate for marriage issued by a registrar under section
10.

(2) Where a marriage is intended to be solemnised or contracted in England, Scotland, Northern

Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, as the case may be, between a British subject resident therein
and a British subject resident in Uganda, a certificate for marriage may be issued by a registrar
under section 10 in the like manner as if the marriage was to be solemnised or contracted in
circumstances requiring the issue of such a certificate and as if both British subjects were resident
in Uganda.

(3) For the purposes of this section, “certificate for marriage” in reference to certificates issued in
Scotland shall mean a certificate of due publication of notice of intention to marry.

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Marriage Act Uganda

Registry and evidence of marriages

31. Marriage certificates to be registered

(1) The registrar of marriages in each district shall forthwith register in a book to be kept in his or her
office for that purpose, and to be called “The Marriage Register Book”, every certificate of marriage
which shall be filed in his or her office, according to Form F in the First Schedule to this Act; and
every such entry shall be made in the order of date from the beginning to the end of the book, and
every entry so made shall be dated on the day on which it is so entered, and shall be signed by the
registrar, and the book shall be indexed in such manner as is best suited for easy reference to it.

(2) The registrar shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made in the Marriage Register Book,
and shall give certified copies from it upon payment of the prescribed fee.

(3) Within ten days after the last day of each month, every registrar shall send to the Registrar General
a certified copy of all entries he or she made during the preceding month in the Marriage Register
Book of his or her district, and the Registrar General shall file the copy in his or her office.

32. Correction of clerical errors in marriage certificates

Any registrar, when authorised by the Registrar General, may correct any clerical error in any certificate
of marriage filed in his or her office, upon production to him or her of the certificate delivered to the
parties, and shall authenticate every correction by his or her signature and the date of the correction.

33. Evidence of marriage

Every certificate of marriage which shall have been filed in the office of the registrar of any district, or
a copy of it, purporting to be signed and certified as a true copy by the registrar of that district for the
time being, and every entry in a Marriage Register Book or a copy of it, certified as aforesaid, shall be
admissible as evidence of the marriage to which it relates, in any court of justice or before any person now
or hereafter having by law or consent of parties authority to hear, receive and examine evidence.

Invalid marriages

34. Circumstances invalidating marriage

(1) No marriage in Uganda shall be valid which, if celebrated in England, would be null and void on
the ground of kindred or affinity, or where either of the parties to it at the time of the celebration
of the marriage is married by customary law to any person other than the person with whom the
marriage is had.

(2) A marriage shall be null and void if both parties knowingly and wilfully acquiesce in its celebration
—

(a) in any place other than the office of a registrar of marriages or a licensed place of worship,
except where authorised by the Minister’s licence;

(b) under a false name or names;

(c) without the registrar’s certificate of notice or Minister’s licence duly issued; or

(d) by a person not being a recognised minister of some religious denomination or body, or a
registrar of marriages.

(3) No marriage shall, after celebration, be deemed invalid by reason that any provision of this Act,
other than the foregoing, has not been complied with.

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Marriage Act Uganda

35. Marriages under this Act valid

All marriages celebrated under this Act shall be good and valid in law to all intents and purposes.

36. Marriages under customary law

Any person who is married under this Act, or whose marriage is declared by this Act to be valid, shall be
incapable, during the continuance of that marriage, of contracting a valid marriage under any customary
law, but, except as aforesaid, nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any marriage contracted under
or in accordance with any customary law, or in any manner applied to marriages so contracted.

37. Certain expenses to be defrayed from public funds

The Minister may defray out of monies provided by Parliament all proper expenses connected with
the transmission or delivery of the marriage registers, or which may otherwise become necessary to be
incurred in carrying out this Act.

Expenses and fees

38. Fees

(1) The fees specified in the Second Schedule to this Act shall be paid to the registrars for the several
matters to which they are applicable and shall be paid by them into the Consolidated Fund.

(2) The Minister may, by statutory order, amend the Second Schedule to this Act.

39. Fee may be remitted

The Minister may, when he or she is satisfied of the poverty of the parties, reduce the amount of the
fees specified in the Second Schedule, or remit them altogether; and, if they have been paid into the
Consolidated Fund, order their refund.

40. Minister may receive customary fees

This Act shall not preclude a minister from receiving the fees ordinarily paid to a minister of his or her
denomination for the celebration of marriage.

Offences and penalties

41. Bigamy
Any person who commits bigamy is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

42. Marriage with a person previously married

Any person who, being unmarried, goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person whom he or she
knows to be married to another person, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment
for a period not exceeding five years.

43. Making false declarations, etc. for marriage

Any person who in any declaration, certificate, licence, document or statement by law to be made or
issued for the purposes of a marriage, declares, enters, certifies or states any material matter which

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Marriage Act Uganda

is false, shall, if he or she does so without having taken reasonable means to ascertain the truth or
falsity of that matter, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding one year, or shall, if he or she does so knowing that the matter is false, be liable on conviction
to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

44. False pretence of impediment to marriage

Any person who endeavours to prevent a marriage by pretence that his or her consent to it is required
by law, or that any person whose consent is so required does not consent, or that there is any legal
impediment to the performing of the marriage, shall, if he or she does so knowing that the pretence is
false or without having reason to believe that it is true, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.

45. Unlawfully performing marriage ceremony

Any person who performs or witnesses as a marriage officer the ceremony of marriage, knowing that
he or she is not duly qualified to do so, or that any of the matters required by law for the validity of the
marriage has not happened or been performed, so that the marriage is void or unlawful on any ground,
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

46. Wilful neglect of duty to fill up or transmit certificate of marriage

Any person who, being under a duty to fill out the certificate of marriage celebrated by him or her, or its
counterfoil, or to transmit the certificate to the registrar of marriages, wilfully fails to perform that duty,
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.

47. Personation in marriage

Any person who personates any other person in marriage, or marries under a false name or description,
with intent to deceive the other party to the marriage, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

48. Fictitious marriage

Any person who goes through the ceremony of marriage, or any ceremony which he or she represents to
be a ceremony of marriage, knowing that the marriage is void on any ground, and that the other person
believes it to be valid, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding five years.

49. Contracting marriage when already married by customary law

Any person who contracts a marriage under this Act, or any modification or reenactment of this Act,
being at the time married in accordance with customary law to any person other than the person with
whom such marriage is contracted, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a
period not exceeding five years.

50. Contracting marriage by customary law when already married under this Act
Any person who, having contracted marriage under this Act or any modification or reenactment of this
Act, during the continuance of that marriage contracts a marriage in accordance with customary law,
commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.

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Marriage Act Uganda

51. Forms
The forms contained in the First Schedule to this Act may be used in the cases to which they are
applicable, with such alterations as may be necessary.

First Schedule (Section 6)

Forms

Republic of Uganda

Form A

Notice of Marriage

The Marriage Act

To the registrar of marriages for the _____________________________________________________district of Uganda.

I give you notice a marriage is intended to be had within three months from the date of this notice between me,
that the the other party named in the notice.

Name Condition Occupation, Age Dwelling or Consent (if

rank or place of abode any) and by
profession whom given

Bridegroom Bachelor or
widower

Bride Spinster or
widow

Witness my hand, ________this_______________ day of_______________, 20 ____.

Signature

Section 7

Republic of Uganda

Form B

Form of Attestation

The Marriage Act

Signed by the said__________________________________________________________, at__________________________, on
the____________________________ day of______________________, 20____, this notice having been first read over to him/
her, [or, read over and truly

interpreted to him/her in the____________________________language] by

______________________________________________________________.

He/she seemed to understand the notice and made his/her mark to it in my presence.

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Marriage Act Uganda

Signature

Section 10

Republic of Uganda

Form C

Registrar’s Certificate

The Marriage Act

I, ____________________________, registrar of marriages in the______________________________ district of Uganda, certify
that on the ____________ day of_________________, 20 ____, notice was duly entered in the Marriage Notice Book of this
district of the marriage intended between the parties named and described in this certificate, the notice being
delivered under the hand of _________________, one of the parties.

Name Condition Occupation, Age Consent Dwelling Length of

rank or residence
profession

(Man) Bachelor

(Woman) Spinster

Date of notice entered______________Date of certificate given________________

No caveat has been entered against the issue of the certificate; or A caveat was entered against the issue of this
certificate on the______ day of______20 ____, but it has been cancelled.

Witness my hand this_____________ day of______, 20 ____.

_____________________ __________

Registrar of marriage District

Note: This certificate will be void unless the marriage is solemnised on or before the__________ day of______, 20____

Section 12

Republic of Uganda

Form D

Special Licence

The Marriage Act

Whereas_________________________________________ (name)

and _____________________________________________(name) desire to intermarry, and sufficient cause has been shown to
me why the preliminaries required by the Marriage Act should be dispensed with:

Now, therefore, in pursuance of that Act, I dispense with the giving of notice and the issue of the
certificate prescribed by the Act, and authorise any registrar of marriages, or recognised minister of some
religious denomination or body to celebrate marriage between____________________________ (name) and

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Marriage Act Uganda

_____________________________ (name), at__________________________________ (place of celebration), within ____________

days from the date of this licence.

The marriage may be celebrated by a registrar of marriages between the hours of ten o’clock in the forenoon and
four o’clock in the afternoon, or by the recognised minister between the hours of eight o’clock in the forenoon
and six o’clock in the afternoon.

Given under my hand this___________ day of________________, 20 ____.

Minister

Sections 23, 24

Form E

No. Certificate of marriage - Uganda

___________
Uganda Marriages celebrated in the at_____________________
Date
______________________________________________ in Uganda.
of
marriage:

Name
of
husband

Name
of wife

Witnesses

Married at by_______________________________________________________________ (or before) me

________________________________________________________________________________________

Minister or Registrar

This marriage______________________________________________________________________

was celebrated

between us________________________________________________________________________

In the presence of us

as witnesses

______________________________________________________________________

Section 31

Republic of Uganda

Form F

Marriage Register Book

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Marriage Act Uganda

(The Marriage Act)

When Names and Whether Condition Occupation Residence Father’s

married surnames full age name and
or minor occupation

Entered this_______________day of_____________, 20 ____, at the district registry of marriages at__________________

__________

Registrar

Section 29

Republic of Uganda

Form G

Notice of conversion of marriage by customary law into legally binding marriage

(The Marriage Act)

To the registrar of marriages for the__________________________________district of Uganda.

I give you notice that I, the undersigned, and the other party named in this notice, being married to each other by
customary law intend within three months from the date of this notice to convert that marriage into a marriage
by which we shall be legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both shall live.

Name Occupation, rank Age Dwelling or Consent (if

or profession place of abode any) and by
whom given

(Man)

(Woman)

Witness my hand, this________________day of__________________, 20______________

Signature

Republic of Uganda

Section 29

Form H

Registrar’s Certificate

(The Marriage Act)

I_________________________________, registrar of marriages in the___________________________ district of Uganda, certify
that on the_____________day of_______, 20 ____, notice was duly entered in the Marriage Notice Book of this district

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Marriage Act Uganda

of the intended conversion by the parties named and described in this certificate of their former marriage by
customary law into a marriage by which they shall be legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both
shall live, the notice being delivered under the hand of, one of the parties.

Name Occupation, Age Consent Dwelling Length of

rank or residence
profession

(Man)

(Woman)

Date of notice entered_____Date of certificate given_________

No caveat has been entered against the issue of the certificate; or A caveat was entered against the issue of this
certificate on the day of____, 20 ____, but it has been cancelled.

Witness my hand this__________ day of_____, 20 ____.

Registrar of Marriages District

NOTE—This certificate will be void unless the ceremony of converting the marriage by customary law into a
legally binding marriage is performed on or before the_________day of__________, 20____.

Section 29

Republic of Uganda

Form I

Special Licence

The Marriage Act

Whereas_____________________________________________ (name) and

_________________________________________________ (name),

professing themselves to be already married to each other by customary law, desire to convert that marriage
into a marriage by which they shall be legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both shall live and
whereas sufficient cause has been shown to me why the preliminaries required by the Marriage Act should be
dispensed with:

Now, therefore, in pursuance of that Act, I dispense with the giving of notice and the issue of the certificate
prescribed, and authorise the registrar of marriages for the_______________________ district to perform the ceremony
by which, under the Marriage Act the marriage by customary law shall be converted into a marriage by which the
parties shall be legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both shall live.

The ceremony may be performed by the registrar of marriages between the hours of ten o’clock in the forenoon
and four o’clock in the afternoon.

Given under my hand this____________day of__________, 20 ____.

Minister

Form J

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Marriage Act Uganda

Section 29

Uganda Certificate of marriage - Uganda

No. ____

Date of Marriage by customary law converted in to legally binding marriage in the office of the register
conversion
at________________________________________________________________________in Uganda
of
marriage
by
customary
law into
legally
binding
marriage

Name of
husband

Name of
wife

Witnesses

Witnesses

Marriage by customary converted into

marriage by which parties are legally bound
to each other as man and wife so long as both
shall live at

____________________________________ before me.

Register

Our marriage by customary law was converted

into marriage by which we are legally bound to
each other as man and wife so long as we both
shall live.

______________________________________________________________

In the presence of us

As witnesses.

_______________

Section 29

Republic of Uganda

Form K

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Marriage Act Uganda

Marriage Register Book

The Marriage Act

Date of Names and Whether Condition Occupation Residence Father’s

conversion surnames full age name and
of marriage or minor occupation
by
customary
law into
legally
binding
marriage

Entered this_____________ day of___________, 20 ____, at the district registry of marriages at

____________.

Registrar

Second Schedule (Section 38)

Fees

National application Foreign application

(shs.) (US $)

Filing every notice and entering it 10,000 10

On issue of each certificate 25,000 25

Certifying any extract 35,000 25

On every marriage in the 200,000 150

registrar’s office

On registration of the marriage 25,000 25

Licence to gazette wedding venue 300,000 200

Licence to waive 21 days 300,000 200

Licence for place of worship to 200,000 not applicable

celebrate marriages

Inspection or search of any 25,000 20

marriage register, return or index

[Second Schedule substituted by section 2 of Statutory Instrument 56 of 2005 and by section 3 of Statutory Instrument
25 of 2014]

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