International Private Law - Lecture 5 - Choice of Law for Marriage and Other Relationships
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Course
International Private Law (LAW10118)
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Edinburgh Napier University (ENU)
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International Private Law
Lecture notes for the International Private Law module linked to E B Crawford and J M Carruthers, International Private Law in Scotland book. Author achieved a first-class grade for the module.
International Private Law - Lecture 3 - Choice of Law for Contractual Obligations
International Private Law - Lecture 9 - Choice of Law for Property and Succession
International Private Law - Lecture 7 - Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Divorces and Dissolution of Civil Partnerships
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Topic 5 Choice of Law for Marriage and Other Relationships PP slides 1 of 2
Focus of Lecture Topic
▪ Concept of marriage
Looking at marriages entered into outside of Scotland and where the marriage was entered
into in Scotland but where one of the parties does not have a Scottish link, for example is not
Scottish domiciled. Does the Scottish court recognise a marriage entered into abroad and how
does it do that, and if a marriage has been entered into in Scotland and one of the parties is
not Scottish, what law applies; is It Scots law? Or does another law apply?
Whether it is a marriage entered into outside of Scotland or entered into in Scotland but one
of the parties is not Scottish, then we are thinking about the overarching question of validity.
Validity is concerned with two things:
▪ Essential validity
▪ Capacity to marry – what law governs essential validity? Was it the ability of the
parties to be able to contract and have capacity to marry; what law governs that?
▪ Formal validity of marriage – all the procedural steps that need to be taken to make it a valid
marriage. Where can they marry? Witnesses? Proxy marriages? Registration?
▪ Consent to marry – getting parental consent, not the fact that the parties do not
consent because that would be a matter of essential validity. Do you need your
parents’ permission to marry? And what do other laws have to say about that and
why does that matter? Why should we be concerned about foreign law?
Broad Focus of this Topic
▪ Focus: How IPL rules enable certain marriages to be recognised as valid in Scotland:
▪ Which marriages?
1. Marriage entered outside Scotland AND
2. Marriages entered into in Scotland where ONE party has a non-Scottish link/domicile with
another country
▪ Two related questions: what law does the Scottish court apply to determine validity of these
marriages? What choice of law rules can be used to answer that question?
Recommended Reading
▪ Crawford and Carruthers, Chapter on Marriage
▪ Anton’s Private International Law, Chapters 15 and 16 available on Westlaw (NB useful for
background only)
, Concept of Marriage: Three-fold
Traditional Approach to Marriage IPL Reflecting Modern Developments
(i) Non-commercial relationship, degree of Enables recognition of foreign divorces.
permanency, conferring status
Not just about upholding marriages, but also recognising when
Hyde v Hyde (1886) LR 1 P & D 130: “voluntary a foreign court has brought a marriage to an end.
union for life”
Nachimson v Nachimson [1930] P 217: English
Court of Appeal, per Lord Hanworth “if a
marriage is good by the laws of the country
where it is effected, it is good all the world
over…confers a status recognised universally…”
So a marriage entered into in Spain or Greece, if
it is good by the laws of that country, then we
should not question that. Our choice of law rules
have to uphold the status of marriage.
(ii) relationship involving only two persons Enables recognition of foreign polygamous marriages. Not
polygamous marriages entered into in the UK.
There is a choice of law rule which allows for the recognition of
foreign polygamous marriages. That is a good thing because it
does not change the status of those individuals if they are
moving their domicile from one place to the other. Also if you
enable the recognition of a foreign polygamous marriage, and
the parties move here, and it’s a valid marriage, then there is an
entitlement to raise divorce proceedings.
(iii) relationship between one man and one Civil Partnerships Act 2004: same sex partnership
woman
Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 : same sex
marriage
Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2020 effective from 23/06/20: to
enable partners not of same sex to enter into a civil partnership:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2020/15/contents/enacted
, Issue: Recognition of Foreign Marriage
Incidental Question: Validity of Marriage
If there was a recognition of a foreign marriage, then this is what you would be asking yourself to do.
If you had a situation where the parties were married abroad, and it was not clear whether Scots law
should apply, then we ask what law governs the recognition of that foreign marriage. So at the heart
of any issue in relation to validity is the recognition of a foreign marriage. To answer that, we have to
ask ourselves what the incidental question is; to determine whether this foreign marriage is valid, we
have to split it up in terms of validity.
Our task: Identify the choice of law
▪ Step 1: Classify the legal issue by applying the lex fori
So under Scots law, is this conceptually concerning a marriage?
▪ Step 2: If issue is classified as question of recognition of foreign marriage, the incidental
question is what law determines the validity of that marriage?
If the marriage is valid by the foreign system, we should uphold that.
▪ Step 3: Identify the impediment which affects the validity of the marriage. Validity for IPL
choice of law purposes is sub-divided into formal and essential validity
Is it a matter of a formal impediment to the marriage? Was it conducted in the correct way?
Or is it a matter of an impediment relating to the essential validity of the marriage? Did the
parties have capacity? Did the parties consent?
Choice of law rules for determining validity of marriage
▪ If the matter is one of formal validity, we apply the lex loci celebrationis which is the law of
the place where the marriage occurred.
Formal validity = apply = lex loci celebrationis (the law of the place where the marriage
occurred).
▪ Essential validity = apply one of the following tests:
▪ dual domicile test/theory (DDT),
▪ intended matrimonial home test (IMH), or
▪ alternative reference test
Validity of Marriage: Capacity to Marry
▪ Capacity to marry: question of essential validity
▪ Apply General Choice of Law Rule: Dual Domicile Theory or Test” (DDT)
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