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Family Law
Family Law
Family Law
Family law
From being a matter of indissoluble status marriage, by the nineteenth
century, characteristically came to be trated as a contract. Today, equally
characteristically though a fair portion of it is to be found in the Matrimonial
Causes Act 1973, it has become enmeshed in copious and incoherent legislation.
One of the most bewildering aspects of the matter is that matrimonial law is
administered by the High Court, county courts and magistrates courts. It has been
argued that the best thing that could be done- for simplifying the law itself- would
be the entrust the matrimonial jurisdiction to a simple set of tribunals, on the model
of the industrial tribunals.
Engagements to marry
Traditionally the common law looked upon an engagement, as upon
marriage, as a contract, and it had the legal effect that a man who broke his
engagement cold be sued by his ex-financee for breach of promise of marriage-a
type of action which was, not unnaturally, discouraged and for which there were
special evidentiary requirements. This form of action was, however, abolished by
the Law Reform Act 1970 which enacted that An agreement between two persons
to marry one another shall not under the law of England and Wales have effect as a
contract giving rise to legal rights This provision, however, could not stand
alone because broken engagements sometimes leave not only injured feeling but
also, like broken marriages, tangled property relationships: hence by s 2, the Act
applied the same rulesof law as apply to property in which a husband or wife has
an interest, It enables an action to be brought under s 17 of the Married Womens
Property Act 1882, provided that the action is brought within three months of the
broken engagement. Thus, for example, where there have been contributions by the
engaged couple towards the proposed matrimonial home the parties interests may
be safeguarded after the engagement has been broken off. Moreover, s 3 of the
1970 Law Reform Act settled disputes about the engagement ring by ruling that it
shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; though this presumption may be rebutted
by evidence showing a contrary intent.