Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act 1944

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
Citation1944 c. 43
Year1944


Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act, 1944

(7 & 8 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 43.

An Act to confer on the High Court in England and the Court of Session in Scotland, and to provide for conferring on the High Court in Northern Ireland, temporary jurisdiction in certain matrimonial causes where the relevant marriage took place on or after the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and to provide for the recognition of certain decrees and orders in matrimonial causes in all British courts.

[17th November 1944]

B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

S-1 Extension of jurisdiction of High Court to certain marriages irrespective of domicile.

1 Extension of jurisdiction of High Court to certain marriages irrespective of domicile.

(1) In the case of marriages to which this section applies—

(a ) the High Court in England shall have jurisdiction in and in relation to proceedings for divorce or for nullity of marriage as if both parties were at all material times domiciled in England;

(b ) section one of the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1937 (which restricts the presentation of petitions for divorce during the first three years after marriage) shall not apply:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply in relation to any proceedings for divorce or for nullity of marriage unless those proceedings were commenced not later than five years after the appointed day.

(2) The marriages to which this section applies are marriages celebrated on or after the third day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, but before the appointed day, where the husband was, at the time of the marriage, domiciled outside the United Kingdom, and the wife was, immediately before the marriage, domiciled in England:

Provided that this section shall not apply to any marriage if, since the celebration thereof, the parties thereto have at any time resided together in the country in which the husband was domiciled at the time of the residence, and for the purposes of this proviso the whole of the United States of America, the whole of India and the whole of any British possession outside India shall each be treated as one country.

(3) This section shall not extend or alter the jurisdiction of the High Court in, or in relation to, any proceedings for divorce or for nullity of marriage where, at the commencement of those proceedings, the parties are domiciled anywhere in the United Kingdom.

S-2 Extension of jurisdiction of Court of Session to certain marriages irrespective of domicile.

2 Extension of jurisdiction of Court of Session to certain marriages irrespective of domicile.

(1) In the case of marriages to which this section applies the Court of Session shall have jurisdiction in and in relation to proceedings for divorce or for nullity of marriage as if both parties were at all material times domiciled in Scotland:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply in relation to any such proceedings unless they were commenced not later than five years after the appointed day.

(2) The marriages to which this section applies are marriages contracted...

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