‘Domicile’ and ‘Single Woman’ in Bastardy Proceedings
| DOI | 10.1177/002201835301700209 |
| Published date | 01 April 1953 |
| Date | 01 April 1953 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CDomicile' and 'Single Woman' in
Bastardy Proceedings.
Two recent decisions of
the
Queen's Bench Division of
the
High Court serve once again
to
remind all those
connected
with
the
law
and
practice in magistrates' courts
of
the
importance of keeping constantly in touch
with
current
reports of cases.
In
this instance
both
cases affect
the
bastardy
law
and
each decision is clear
and
decisive on
the
questions raised before
the
Court.
It
will be recalled
that
the
case of Tetau v. O'Dea (1950,
2
All
E.R.
695;
114
J.P.
499) confirmed
the
ruling given
in
R.
'0. Blane (1849, 13
J.P.
825)
that
awoman who was
not
domiciled in this country
at
the
time of a child's
birth
could
not
avail herself of
the
provisions of
the
Bastardy
Laws
Amendment Act, 1872, in .respect of a child born
to
her
abroad.
Shortly after this decision
the
Maintenance Orders
Act, 1950 received
the
Royal Assent
and
section 27 (2) of
the
Act provides
that,
".
. . .
any
jurisdiction conferred
by
Part
I of this Act, or
any
enactment therein referred to,
upon acourt in
any
part
of
the
United Kingdom is exer-
cisable notwithstanding
that
any
party
to
the
proceedings
is
not
domiciled in
that
part
of
the
United
Kingdom;
and
any
jurisdiction so conferred in affiliation proceedings shall
be exercisable notwithstanding
that
the
child
to
whom
the
proceedings relate was
not
born in
that
part
of
the
United
Kingdom". One of
the
enactments referred
to
in
Part
I
of
the
Act is
the
Bastardy
Laws Amendment Act, 1872.
Towards
the
end of 1950
the
Secretary of
State
issued
acircular (No. 241) in which he advised justices
that
the
effect of
the
provisions of section 27 was
to
overrule
the
decision in R. u. Blane (supra) followed in
the
case of Tetau
e.
0'
Dea (supra)
and
continued, "
.....
It
will be observed
that
the
words {outside
that
part
of
the
United
Kingdom'
are wide enough
to
cover a case in which
the
birth
occurs
outside
the
United Kingdom
and
that
the
words {or
any
18~
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