In the face of the church. A term applied in the law of England to marriages, which are required to be solemnized in a parish church or public chapel, unless by dispensation or license. 1 Bl. Comm. 439; 2 Steph. Comm. 288, 289. Applied in Bracton to the old mode of conferring dower. Bract fol. 92; 2 Bl. Comm. 188.