Macaulay v Macaulay
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 22 November 1990 |
| Date | 22 November 1990 |
| Court | Family Division |
Family Division
Before Sir Stephen Brown, President and Mrs Justice Booth
Husband and wife - maintenance order and divorce - irreconcilability - EC law
Justices were correct when they set aside the registration of an interim maintenance order made in favour of a wife by the High Court of the Republic of Ireland on February 13, 1987 on the ground that the Irish order was irreconcilable with the dissolution of the marriage by a court in England.
The husband had been granted a decree nisi which had been made absolute on March 3, 1987.
The Divisional Court of the Family Division so stated in a reserved judgment dismissing the wife's appeal by way of case stated from Hove Justices who set aside the registration of an interim maintenance order made in the High Court of the Republic of Ireland.
The question for the Divisional Court was whether the registration should be set aside on the ground that the Irish order was irreconcilable with the English decree absolute.
Mr Peter Singer, QC and Mr Philip Moor for the wife; Mr Hugh Bennett, QC, for the husband.
MRS JUSTICE BOOTH said that the parties had married in England in 1975 and had two children. In 1979 they moved to the Republic of Ireland. In 1985 they separated and the husband returned to England. In June 1986 the wife issued a writ seeking maintenance for herself and the children in the Irish High Court under the provisions of the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976.
The husband had filed a petition for divorce in England on July 7, 1986 and sought to stay the maintenance proceedings in Ireland. On January 19, 1987 the husband was granted a decree nisi of divorce in undefended proceedings.
On February 13, 1987 in the Irish High Court, Mr Justice Egan held that the parties were still spouses as the decree nisi had not dissolved the marriage and he had jurisdiction to make an interim maintenance order in favour of the wife and children.
On February 16, 1988 in the Irish High Court, Mr Justice Barr declared that the English decree absolute would be recognised in the Republic of Ireland as valid to dissolve the marriage.
However, Mr Justice Barr decided in a judgment delivered on November 20, 1989 that despite the recognition of the English decree absolute the interim periodical payments order in the wife's favour remained in force.
On the wife's application, the periodical payments order was registered in...
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...which were mutually exclusive. He referred me to Dicey, Morris & Collins on The Conflict of Laws(14 th Ed.) at 14–218, citing Macaulay v Macaulay [1991] 1 WLR 179 and Hoffman v Krieg [1988] ECR 645. Article 36 provides that “Under no circumstances may a foreign judgment be reviewed as to ......