The _Ne Temere_ decree, promulgated in the year 1908, laid down that any marriage to which a Roman Catholic was a party, if not solemnized according to the rites of the Church of Rome, should be treated as invalid from a canonical point of view.

Although legally binding, it should be regarded as no marriage in the eyes of an orthodox Roman Catholic until it was regularized in the manner provided by the Church, The case of an unhappy mixed marriage in Belfast was exploited with fury on a thousand platforms.

Another decree, the _Motu Proprio_, was construed as seeking to establish immunity for the clergy from proceedings in civil courts.

This, however, was of less platform value, because no instance could be found of a practical application; whereas the McCann case unquestionably gave Tory disputants a formidable instrument for evoking the ancient distrust of Roman Catholicism which is so deeply ingrained in the Protestant mind.
In spite of all, the English democracy remained steady in its purpose.
Party feeling, however, ran to heights not known in living memory.

In July 1911 the Parliament Bill went to the Lords, where it was altered out of all recognition.