Births, Deaths and Marriages
206. The Legitimacy Ordinance 1971 is based largely on the Legitimacy Act 1926 (as amended by the Legitimacy Act 1959) of the United Kingdom, and provides for the legitimation of an illegitimate child by the subsequent marriage of its parents. The Schedule to the Ordinance sets out provisions with regard to the registration of births of legitimated persons. Section 15(1) of the Ordinance amended the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance by deleting from section 12 the provision that every child of every Chinese male should be deemed to be legitimate for the purposes of the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance. The repeal of this provision thus places Chinese in the same position as non-Chinese as far as the registration of the birth of an illegitimate child is concerned.
207. The Married Persons Status Ordinance 1971 consolidated and amended the law relating to the status of husband and wife. Some of the legislation existing prior to the enactment of the Ordinance had become obsolete and was repealed by section 15. Among the provisions repealed were (a) section 57 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (dealing with the appropriation of income of property restrained from anticipation), (b) section 175 of the Companies Ordinance (providing for the liability of a husband of a female contributory in respect of any liability attaching to shares acquired prior to 1st January 1883), and (c) the Married Women (Disposition of Property) Ordinance.
208. The Marriage Reform (Amendment) Ordinance 1971 amended the principal Ordinance so as to validate dissolutions by mutual consent entered into prior to the 7th October 1971 (the appointed day under the principal Ordinance) of marriages celebrated in China between 5th May 1931 and 30th April 1950 inclusive, provided that at the time of the dissolution both parties to the marriage were domiciled in, or either party had a substantial connexion with, Hong Kong. The Ordinance contains provisions safeguarding the legitimacy of children born to the parties after the date of a purported dissolution.
209. The Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations was implemented in the United Kingdom by the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations Act 1971. The Matri- monial Causes (Amendment) Ordinance 1972, which was enacted on the 16th March 1972, but was not due to come into operation until 1st April 1972, introduced provisions similar to those contained in the United Kingdom Act with only necessary minor modifications.
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