Governor may
designate
public officers,
Penalty for
removing, elc. records.
Power to make regulations.
Repeal of
Cap. (78,
Amendment of Matrimonial
Causes
Ordinance
(Cap. 1790
and Marriage Ordinance.
(Cap. (8L)
(2) A designated public officer with whom a dissolution of marriage is registered under section 20 shall send to the Secretary for Home Affairs once in each month, or more often if so directed by the Secretary for Home Affairs, particulars of all such dissolu- tions registered by him and the Secretary for Home Affairs shall cause such particulars to be entered in the register and preserved for record at his office.
22. The Governor by notice in the Gazette may designate public officers for the purposes of this Part.
PART VI
MISCELLANEOUS,
23. Any person who wilfully removes, defaces, alters or destroys any notice, certificate, index, or other document kept or filed by the Secretary for Home Affairs or the Registrar pur- suant to or for the purposes of this Ordinance shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to a fine of one thousand dollars and to imprisonment for six months.
24. The Governor may make regulations for the better carry- ing out of the purposes and provisions of this Ordinance and in particular may make regulations-
(a) as to all matters of procedure under this Ordinance; and (b) prescribing the forms to be used under this Ordinance.
25. The Chinese Marriage Preservation Ordinance is repealed.
26. (1) The Matrimonial Causes Ordinance is amended— (a) in section 2, by deleting paragraph (a) of the definition of "monogamOUS marriage" and substituting the following-
"(a) if it took place in Hong Kong-
(i) celebrated or contracted in accordance (Cap. 181) with the provisions of the Marriage Ordinance; (ii) a modern marriage validated by section % of the Marriage Reform Ordinance 1970 and registered under Part IV of that Ordinance; or":
(b) in section –—–
(i) by deleting "or" at the end of paragraph (4); and
(ii) by deleting the full stop at the end of paragraph (5),
substituting "or" and adding the following-
"(c) either of the parties to the marriage had a substantial connexion with Hong Kong at the date of the petition.":
(c) in section 4, by inserting after the words "domiciled in”
in paragraph (a) the following-
"or had a substantial connexion with";
(d) in section 5--
(1) by deleling "or" at the end of paragraph (b); and (ii) by deleting the full stop at the end of paragraph (c), substituting *: or" and adding the following-
"(d) either of the parties to the marriage had a substantial connexion with Hong Kong at
the date of the petition.":
(e) in section 6, by inserting after the words "domiciled in"
in paragraph (a) the following
"or had a substantial connexion with";
() in section 7
(i) by deleting "or" at the end of paragraph (c); and (i) by deleting the full stop at the end of paragraph (d),
substituting "or" and adding the following-
"(e) either of the parties to the marriage had a substantial connexion with Hong Kong at the date of the petition.";
(g) by adding the following new section after section 7-
"Effect of dissolution under
Marriage
Reform Ordinance 1970.
7A. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the dissolution in accordance with Part V of the Marriage Reform Ordinance 1970 of a modern marriage validated by section 8 of the Marriage Reform Ordinance 1970 and subsisting on the day appointed under sec- lion 3 of that Ordinance or a customary marriage subsisting on the day appointed under section 3 of that Ordinance shall, for the purposes of Part VI and Part VII, be deemed to be a final decree of divorce granted by the court, and accordingly, the court, and in the case of section 36 a magistrates' court, shall have the same