Matrimonial Proceedings (Magistrates' Courts) Act 1960
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1960 c. 48 |
Matrimonial Proceedings(Magistrates' Courts) Act , 1960
(8 & 9 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 48
An Act to amend and consolidate certain enactments relating to matrimonial proceedings in magistrates' courts and to make in the case of other proceedings the same amendments as to the maximum weekly rate of the maintenance payments which may be ordered by a magistrates' court as are made in the case of matrimonial proceedings.
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
1 Jurisdiction of magistrates' court in matrimonial proceedings.
(1) A married woman or a married man may apply by way of complaint to a magistrates' court for an order under this Act against the other party to the marriage on any of the following causes of complaint arising during the subsistence of the marriage, that is to say, that the defendant—
(a ) has deserted the complainant; or
(b ) has been guilty of persistent cruelty to—
(i) the complainant; or
(ii) an infant child of the complainant; or
(iii) an infant child of the defendant who, at the time of the cruelty, was a child of the family; or
(c ) has been found guilty—
(i) on indictment, of any offence which involved an assault upon the complainant; or
(ii) by a magistrates' court, of an offence against the complainant under section twenty, forty-two, forty-three or forty-seven of the Offences against the Person Act, 1861, being, in the case of the said section forty-two, an offence for which the defendant has been sentenced to imprisonment or any other form of detention for a term of not less than one month; or
(iii) of, or of an attempt to commit, an offence under any of sections one to twenty-nine of the Sexual Offences Act, 1956, or under section one of the Indecency with Children Act, 1960, against an infant child of the complainant, or against an infant child of the defendant who, at the time of the commission of or attempt to commit the offence, was a child of the family; or
(d ) has committed adultery; or
(e ) while knowingly suffering from a venereal disease has insisted on, or has without the complainant being aware of the presence of that disease permitted, sexual intercourse between the complainant and the defendant; or
(f ) is for the time being an habitual drunkard or a drug addict; or
(g ) being the husband, has compelled the wife to submit herself to prostitution or has been guilty of such conduct as was likely to result and has resulted in the wife's submitting herself to prostitution; or
(h ) being the husband, has wilfully neglected to provide reasonable maintenance for the wife or for any child of the family who is, or would but for that neglect have been, a dependant; or
(i ) being the wife, has wilfully neglected to provide, or to make a proper contribution towards, reasonable maintenance for the husband or for any child of the family who is, or would but for that neglect have been, a dependant, in a case where, by reason of the impairment of the husband's earning capacity through age, illness, or disability of mind or body, and having regard to any resources of the husband and the wife respectively which are, or should properly be made, available for the purpose, it is reasonable in all the circumstances to expect the wife so to provide or contribute.
(2) A magistrates' court shall have jurisdiction to hear a complaint under this section—
(a ) if at the date of the making of the complaint either the complainant or the defendant ordinarily resides within the petty sessions area for which that court acts; or
(b ) except in the case of a complaint by virtue of paragraph (c ) of the foregoing subsection, if the cause of complaint arose wholly or partly within the said petty sessions area; or
(c ) in the case of a complaint by virtue of the said paragraph (c ), if the offence or attempt to which the complaint relates occurred within the said petty sessions area.
(3) The jurisdiction conferred by the last foregoing subsection—
(a ) shall be exercisable notwithstanding that the defendant resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland if the complainant resides in England and the parties last ordinarily resided together as man and wife in England; and
(b ) is hereby declared to be exercisable where the complainant resides in Scotland or Northern Ireland if the defendant resides in England:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as enabling a court to include in an order under this Act against a person residing in Scotland or Northern Ireland a provision such as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) of subsection (1) of section two of this Act.
2 Order by magistrates' court in matrimonial proceedings
(1) Subject to the proviso to subsection (3) of section one of this Act and to the provisions of this section and of section four of this Act, on hearing a complaint under the said section one by either of the parties to a marriage the court may make an order (in this Act referred to as a ‘matrimonial order’) containing any one or more of the following provisions, namely—
(a ) a provision that the complainant be no longer bound to cohabit with the defendant (which provision while in force shall have effect in all respects as a decree of judicial separation);
(b ) a provision that the husband shall pay to the wife such weekly sum not exceeding seven pounds ten shillings as the court considers reasonable in all the circumstances of the case;
(c ) where, by reason of the impairment of the husband's earning capacity through age, illness, or disability of mind or body, it appears to the court reasonable in all the circumstances so to order, a provision that the wife shall pay to the husband such weekly sum not exceeding seven pounds ten shillings as the court considers reasonable in all the circumstances of the case;
(d ) a provision for the legal custody of any child of the family who is under the age of sixteen years;
(e ) if it appears to the court that there are exceptional circumstances making it impracticable or undesirable for any such child as aforesaid to be entrusted to either of the parties or to any other individual, a provision committing the care of the child to a specified local authority, being the council of the county or county borough in which the child was, in the opinion of the court, resident immediately before being so committed;
(f ) if, in the case of any child committed by the order to the legal custody of any person, it appears to the court that there are exceptional circumstances making it desirable that the child should be under the supervision of an independent person, a provision that the child be under the supervision—
(i) of a probation officer appointed for or assigned to the petty sessions area in which in the opinion of the court the child is or will be resident; or
(ii) of a specified local authority, being the council of a county or county borough;
(g ) a provision for access to any child of the family by either of the parties or by any other person who is a parent of that child, in a case where the child is committed by the order to the legal custody of a person other than that party or parent;
(h ) a provision for the making by the defendant or by the complainant or by each of them, for the maintenance of any child of the family, of payments by way of a weekly sum not exceeding in the case of payments by either one of the parties in respect of any one child the sum of fifty shillings, being—
(i) if and for so long as the child is under the age of sixteen years, payments to any person to whom the legal custody of the child is for the time being committed by the order, or by any other order made by a court in England and for the time being in force, or, during any period when the child is in the care of a local authority under the order, to that local authority;
(2) Where, on a complaint under section one of this Act, the court makes a matrimonial order on the ground that the defendant is for the time being an habitual drunkard or a drug addict, and the order contains such a provision as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) of the foregoing subsection, then, if in all the circumstances, and after giving each party to the proceedings an opportunity of making representations, the court thinks it proper so to do, the court may include in that order—
(a ) if the complainant is the husband, a provision such as is mentioned in paragraph (b ) of the foregoing subsection; or
(b ) if the complainant is the wife, a provision such as is mentioned in paragraph (c ) of that subsection;
but save as aforesaid the said paragraph (b ) or (c ) shall not authorise the court to require any payment such as is therein mentioned to be made by the complainant.
(3) The court hearing a complaint under section one of this Act shall not make a matrimonial order containing a provision such as is mentioned in paragraph (a ), (b ) or (c ) of subsection (1) of this section—
(a ) on the ground that the defendant has committed an act of adultery, unless the court is satisfied that the complainant has not condoned or connived at, or by...
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