‘A court has reversed a judgment from two years ago which found that a couple who had an Islamic wedding ceremony could legally divorce.’
BBC News, 14th February 2020
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘For Jewish women, obtaining a religious divorce (Get) can be life-changing. Women denied a Get are considered ‘chained’ to their husband, preventing them from re-marrying within the faith (whilst not affecting the husband’s ability to re-marry). The power to grant the Get is usually considered the unilateral right of the husband. Because a purely religious marriage is not recognised in England as a civil marriage, women have little recourse to the courts. So, what happens when a husband refuses to grant a religious divorce to his wife? For these women, their human rights to manifest their religion and to enter into marriages are denied, such that they cannot live fully as both religious individuals and bearers of human rights. However, a novel approach to this problem, a private prosecution for coercive control, could offer Jewish women an alternative avenue to protect their human rights.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 4th February 2020
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘As of 31st December 2019, it is now possible for both same-sex and heterosexual couples to enter into a civil partnership. The institution was initially devised solely for same-sex couples through the Civil Partnership Act 2004; it was meant to be a distinct separate relationship status for same-sex couples akin, but different to, a marriage. This has now changed and moving into 2020, heterosexual couples may opt for a civil partnership instead of a marriage.’
Family Law, 5th February 2020
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘On 9 January, Baroness Meacher introduced the Marriage (Approved Organisations) Bill in the House of Lords.’
Law & Religion UK, 14th January 2020
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
‘Articles from around the web, Legislation updates and Case Updates from Care Proceedings and Financial Remedy matters.’
Spire Barristers, 6th January 2020
Source: spirebarristers.co.uk
‘The government has swiftly put long-awaited divorce reform back on the agenda after reintroducing legislation to end what the justice secretary called ‘needless antagonism’.’
Law Society's Gazette, 7th January 2020
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A woman who married an Islamist fighter online has been convicted of funding terrorism.’
BBC News, 12th December 2019
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Civil partnerships are now to be open to all but the solution of that problem has led to another – while same-sex couples can convert a civil partnership to a marriage, there is no provision for opposite-sex couples to do the same.’
5SAH, 9th December 2019
Source: www.5sah.co.uk
‘British women are increasingly being pressured into polygamous relationships or left without child support when relationships break up because UK law does not offer adequate protection to spouses in religious marriages, campaigners have warned.’
The Independent, 25th November 2019
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘A High Court judge has ruled that a marriage between a woman and a trans man was void because both parties were legally female during the ceremony.’
Daily Telegraph, 20th November 2019
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
The draft Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 (“the Regulations”) was the first item of the secondary legislation within the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019 (“the Act”) to achieve the necessary approval of both Houses under the affirmative resolution procedure. It was also the last item of debated business before parliament was dissolved on 6 November. Through section 2(2) of the Act the regulations were subject to a “sunset clause” which required them to be in force by the end of December, and as such, only limited time was available for its scrutiny and approval; this left a number of items of unfinished business, and these are summarized below.
Law & Religion UK, 18th November 2019
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
‘Recently I was instructed on an EEA case, where a marriage between an EEA national and an Albanian national was alleged to be a marriage of convenience after a “Mr and Mrs” marriage interview. The unusual feature in this case was that they had answered virtually all of the questions put to them with a high degree of consistency, which would usually be taken as evidence of the marriage being genuine.’
Drystone Chambers, October 2019
Source: drystone.com
‘A bride-to-be frittered away her fiance’s stag party kitty, leaving him and his friends stranded at a UK airport, a court has heard.’
BBC News, 29th October 2019
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The issue of unregistered religious marriages has come up once again in the House of Lords. On 23 October, Baroness Cox asked the Government:
“what progress they have made in implementing the first recommendation of The independent review into the application of sharia law in England and Wales, published in February 2018, in order to protect Muslim women in Islamic marriages which are not civilly registered.”’
Law & Religion UK, 24th October 2019
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
‘Over the past 12 months, there has been much media coverage regarding reforming this country’s divorce system. To date, concerns about protecting the sanctity and institution of marriage have prevented the law from keeping up with the modern family and changing societal values. However, following the high profile case of Owens v Owens the government proposed changes to legislation in September 2018. Stewarts took part in the consultation on these changes, and here, Lucy Gould discusses the proposed legislation and its historical context.’
Family Law, 11th October 2019
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘Alexandra Goldrein, a solicitor with Irwin Mitchell, considers a recent Court of Appeal judgment concerning non-disclosure and the award of spousal maintenance to a wife pending the husband’s grant of a Jewish divorce.’
Family Law week, 28th August 2019
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘A woman who claimed she had terminal cancer so she could con a small charity into paying for a wedding ceremony has today been sentenced.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 16th August 2019
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
‘An understandable degree of disquiet has been generated by the mistaken suggestion that couples who do not register their completed marriage document within seven days of the wedding will be subject to a significant fine. This has been widely reported and follows from an update of the meeting between the Church of England and Church in Wales, and the General Register Office (GRO). The information provided to this meeting appears to be based upon a misunderstanding or a misinterpretation of the intentions of the provisions within the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019.’
Law & Religion UK, 14th August 2019
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
‘Does a law prohibiting same-sex marriage violate the right to manifest one’s religion or belief? This novel argument will soon be tested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), where the Government of Bermuda will be appealing against successive decisions by the island’s first instance and appellate courts to strike down legislation which prohibited same-sex marriage.’
Law & Religion UK, 30th July 2019
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
© Inner Temple Library 2020