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Home Area of Practice Indian Marriage Laws Christian Marriage Law
BRIEF NOTES ON...........
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THE INDIAN CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE ACT, 1872
THE DIVORCE ACT, 1869
THE MARRIAGES VALIDATION ACT, 1892
THE CONVERTS MARRIAGE DISSOLUTION ACT, 1866
THE CODE OF CANON LAW, 1983
THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES, 1990
1. The Indian Marriage Act, 1872 permits the solemnization in India of the Marriage of Christians. Every marriage between persons one or both of whom are or are a Christian or Christians shall be solemnized under this Act as otherwise, it shall be void. Such marriages may be solemnized by a clergyman or a minister of Religion or by a Marriage Register. The father or guardians or mother of a minor may give consent to the minor’s marriage.
2. After the issue of certificate of notice and declaration by Minister of religion, marriage may be solemnized in the presence of two witnesses within two months notice. All such marriages shall be registered by clergyman of Church of England. The marriage age of the man shall not be under eighteen years and that either of them shall not have a wife or husband still living at the time of marriage. The certificate from the Marriage Register Book shall be sent to the Marriage Registrar of the concerned district and that such certificate shall be copied into a book kept for that purpose. When the marriage is intended to be solemnized by a Marriage Registrar, one of the parties to the marriage shall give notice to the concerned Marriage Registrar who shall cause a copy thereof to be affixed in the notice board of his office and Registrar shall issue a certificate of notice given thereof. After the issue of the certificate of Marriage Register, the marriage be solemnized between the man and woman and the same shall be registered in the register book. The Marriage Registrar shall send the certificate of Marriage to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths and Marriage.
3. The Divorce Act 1869 can be invoked to dissolve the marriage between the parties professing Christian religion and who are domiciled in India, even if the marriage was solemnized out of India. It is sufficient that one of the parties who is a Christian when the petition was filed. The original Act has been amended by Act 51 of 2001 for the removal of gender inequality in the matter of grounds of divorce as available to husband and wife under section 10 of the Act. Under Section 10, either the husband or the wife may present a petition to the District Court seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground of adultery, ceasing to be Christian, incurably of unsound mind, suffering from virulent and venereal disease for two years. Not been heard of as being alive for seven years, willful refusal to consummate the marriage, failure to comply with a decree for restitution of conjugal rights, desertion for two years or more, that they have not been able to live together and that they have mutually agreed that their marriage should be dissolved. Wife has been granted grounds of rape, sodomy and bestiality of husband for divorce.
4. The standard of proof required for divorce under this Act is that the court should be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt as to the commission of the matrimonial offence, which is a legal requirement of section 14. Besides dissolution of marriage, the Act provides for nullity of marriage under Sections 18 and 19. The respondent being impotent at the time of marriage and at the time of petition that the parties are within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, that either party was lunatic or idiot at the time of marriage, and that the husband or wife of either party was living at the time of marriage are the legal grounds of decree of nullity. The Court has discretion to grant the decree of divorce or nullity under the sections. The Act provides for the remedy of judicial separation and restitution of conjugal rights under sections 22 and 32 apart from granting alimony pendent lite and permanent alimony. The Act empowers the court to make orders as to custody of children in suit for separation, to make such orders after decree and to custody of children in suits for dissolution of nullity (Vide Sections 41, 42, 43). The Act provides for filing of appeal to Supreme Court when the High Court declares that the case is a fit one for appeal to the Supreme Court. It specifies the circumstances under which the parties to a marriage, which has been dissolved, could marry again (See Sections 56 and 57 respectively). Indian and Colonial Divorce Act, 1926, Indian and Colonial Divorce Act, 1940 and the Indian Divorce Act 1945 have all been repealed as these Acts had outlived their utility and become obsolete).
| Divorce Act, 1989 |
| Withdrawal from the society of other spouse without reasonable excuse. |
| Husband and wife can obtain a decree of judicial separation on the ground of adultery or desertion for two years. |
- Impotency at the time of marriage or at the time of filling of suit.
- Within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity.
- Either party was a lunatic or idiot at the time of marriage.
- Living of former wife or husband and subsistence of previous marriage at the time of marriage.
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| Parties living separately for two years or more and they have not been able to live together and mutually agreed to dissolve the marriage. |
- Adultery {S. 10 (i)
- Ceased to be Christian by conversion to another religion (S. 10 (ii)
- Unsound mind for not less than two years before the presentation of the petition (S. 10 (iii)
- Virulent and incurable from of leprosy for not less than two years before the presentation of the petition (S. 10 (iv)
- Suffering from venereal disease for not less than two years before the presentation of the petition (S. 10 (v)
- Not less heard for a period of 7 years (S. 10 (vi)
- Willful refusal to consummate the marriage (S. 10 (vii)
- Failed to comply the decree for restitution of conjugal rights for the period of two years or upwards from the date of decree (S. 10 (viii)
- Discretion for two years before the presentation of the petition (S. 10 (ix)
- Cruelty (S. 10 (x)
Petition by wife alone
11. Husband being guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality (S. 10 (2) |
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