More than 20 Tory MPs joined the rebellion, meaning that Mr Major's ratification timetable only scraped through after the Liberal Democrats supported the government.
The ballot result sorely disappointed gay rights advocates who were hoping for the first major voter ratification of same-sex marriage, and it also called into question the legality of 18,000 marriages performed in California in the five months following the court decision.
Major institutional risks include ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and associated decisions regarding the inclusion of sinks and their potential contribution to emission reduction targets.
WASHINGTON — President Obama's arms control treaty with Russia advanced to the Senate floor with bipartisan support on Thursday, giving it a major boost toward ratification despite the election-year polarization that has divided the parties over so many other issues.
After arriving in America as a poor orphan from the West Indies, Hamilton rose to become a trusted aide to George Washington during the American Revolution and a major force in ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
At government level, this is evidenced by the ratification of major international treaties (including CEDAW in 1998) and major legislative breakthrough in the area of women's rights with the adoption of a gender sensitive Family Code in 2002.
Instead, the more than 190 nations represented there are expected to produce an interim agreement that addresses the major issues without requiring ratification or international enforcement.
Public dismay at what was seen as a corrupt means of choosing federal lawmakers was a major factor in the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, which took the privilege of electing senators out of state legislators' hands and gave it to the people.
Each major step is subject to ratification by national parliaments or referendums, which can easily trip up the project.
Last week, President-elect Vladimir V. Putin pushed the long-awaited ratification of a major arms control treaty through a compliant lower house of Parliament.
New START cleared a key hurdle in the Senate on Tuesday, advancing to a final vote with a margin that appeared to guarantee ratification and a major foreign-policy victory for President Obama.
