Brussels — The European Commission agreed Thursday to address concerns that scores of farmers may be legally carrying out marriage ceremonies on members of their dairy herds by virtue of an ancient unrepealed law dating back to Norman times with the sole intention of avoiding heavy tax levvies imposed by the EU.
The statute dating back to April 1043 was an act brought to English law by Edward The Confessor at a time when polygyny was unlikely and many men could not afford more than one wife. In order to relieve the situation the law stated that a woman would be acquired with her father’s cattle and that the ownership of the animals be legally transferred through the act of marriage. Tax levvies could also be reduced by half through provision of a marriage certificate showing the cattle against the husband’s name. According to the Act, cattle include elephants, camel, buffaloes, horses, mare, geldings, ponies, colts, fillies, mules, asses, pigs, rams, ewes, sheep, lambs and goats could also be included.
It has been claimed that farmers have been utilising a loophole in this law to conduct civil partnership ceremonies in which their own name appears beside the Defra registration numbers of their cattle. The certificates are then used to claim generous HMRC tax rebates.
EU executive will take a close look at the EU’s existing rules and see whether new guidelines aimed at avoiding abuses might be needed, a spokesman said. The case is likely to go before the European Court on 1st April 2011.
