MARRIAGE REFORM (AMENDMENT)
Ord. No. 62/79
A 193
་
HONG KONG
L.S.
No. 62 OF 1979
I assent.
MURRAY MACLEHOSE.
Governor.
2nd August, 1979.
An Ordinance to amend the Marriage Reform Ordinance.
[3rd August, 1979]
Enacted by the Governor of Hong Kong, with the advice and consent
of the Legislative Council thereof.
1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Marriage Reform (Amend- Short title. ment) Ordinance 1979.
2. Section 4 of the principal Ordinance is amended by deleting Amendment of "on and after" and substituting the following-
"on or after".
section 4.
(Cap. 178.)
3. Section 9 of the principal Ordinance is amended by deleting Amendment of subsection (3) and substituting the following-
"(3) The District Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine an application by a person claiming to be a party to a customary marriage or a validated marriage for a declaration that a customary marriage or validated marriage, as the case may be, subsists between that person and the other party to such marriage where—
4.
(a) the other party disputes the existence of the marriage; (b) the other party is unwilling to join in the application for the
registration of the marriage under this section; or
(c) the whereabouts of the other party cannot after careful and reasonable inquiry be ascertained or it is for any other reason impracticable for such other party to be apprised of the application for the registration of the marriage under this section.".
section 9.
Section 15 of the principal Ordinance is repealed and replaced Repeal and by the following new section-
"Dissolution
of certain marriages on and after the appointed day.
15. A customary marriage or a validated marriage subsisting on the appointed day and registered in accordance with Part IV may where at least one party to the marriage has a substantial connexion with Hong Kong be dissolved on or after the day upon which such marriage has been so registered-
replacement of section 15.
(a) in accordance with the Matrimonial Causes Ordin- (Cap. 179.)
ance; or
(b) in accordance with this Part.".