The High Court in Birmingham has refused to grant a declaration of non – recognition of marriage of a 14 year old girl. The application was brought by a local authority in the course of care proceedings. The girl at the centre of this case (X) was born in England in 1997. Her parents had immigrated to England 40 years previously from Pakistan. At the age of 14 she travelled to Pakistan where, under considerable duress, she married a 24 year old man. The marriage was consummated two weeks later, after which X became pregnant. She soon returned to England and the baby was born in autumn 2012. Following the birth of the child the local authority commenced care proceedings in relation to X and the baby.
In conjunction with X through the support of her guardian, the local authority sought a declaration of non-recognition of the marriage. Justice Holman considered the Marriage Act 1949, which says a marriage between persons either of whom is under 16 shall be void. Justice Holman also said the Act had extra territorial application when one of the parties was domiciled in the UK at the time of the marriage.
Despite these initial findings, Holman J. dismissed the application on the basis that X was approaching 17, an age where she could apply herself for an annulment of the marriage before the courts: “On the facts as I have recounted them, there is no question but that X herself, who is now approaching the age of seventeen, could present a petition for nullity on the ground that her marriage is void on the ground that at the date of the marriage she was under the age of sixteen”.
X’s counsel argued that at her age and present stage in life, to make such an application in defiance of her parents was too big a step to take. Justice Holman refused the local authority’s application on the basis that s. 58(5) Family Law Act 1986 places a statutory bar on any court declaring a marriage void at its inception (ie when X was 14). He said that there was not a bar to X now applying herself for a decree of nullity, and to grant the declaration sought by the local authority would be flouting the Family Law Act’s prohibition in s.58(5). Justice Holman expressed sympathy for X’s situation but said that the “reality is that sooner or later she needs fully to resolve her legal status and to face up to the obviously necessary step of obtaining a decree of nullity”.
Click here to read Holman J’s full judgment and a case summary by Georgina Clark of Field Court Chambers.
In 2010 the PILA Bulletin reported on the G and D case which concerned the Northern Ireland Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007. That case involved wardship proceedings brought by a trust on the grounds that two girls (D and G) of Pakistani origin living in Northern Ireland were being sent to Pakistan by their parents to be married. The judge in that case ended previous wardship orders granted for the children and issued a forced marriage protection order.
Click here to read the G and D case summary in a PILA Bulletin from 5 May 2010.