TNAG-0189-FCO40-225-Chinese-marriages-in-Hong-Kong-1969 — Page 54

Date, and hence after Post-Registration. Such Post-Registration would be granted upon production of evidence to satisfy the Registrar (a) of the marriage (b) of its factually monogamous character. The Sub-Committee appreciates that the latter require- ment might be difficult to apply, though the giving of public notice could be a condition imposed by the Registrar; and the certificate issued would presumably have to make it clear that for the period preceding the Appointed Date it would be represent incontrovertible proof that the marriage had been monogamous. If evidence were later to come to light showing that the marriage had been in fact polygamous before the Appointed Date, then the Post-Registration would have to be amended accordingly. (ii) Marriages in fact polygamous before the Appointed Date should be registered as such either by agreement between the parties, or as a result of the amendment of a Post-Registration as described above. The Sub-Committee notes that the Recommendations in the Report, just as they make no mention of the Post-Registration of Customary Marriages, also leave polygamous marriages out of the system. However, the advantages of a Post-Registration system seem so great that the Sub-Committee feels that an effort should be made to be as inclusive as possible, and where concubines have acquired rights before the Appointed Date, it would seem desirable that they should be afforded the same assistance as spouses fortunate enough to be parties to monogamous unions in obtaining authentic official evidence of their status. The general trend in the field of private international law has been to extend more and more the recognition of the effects, in terms of status, of polygamous marriages, and there seems no reason to doubt that such an addition to the rather narrow Post-Registration system proposed by the authors of the Report would be of great assistance both to the parties to such unions and to the various authorities in Hong Kong and elsewhere who may be concerned.

43. In any case, the Sub-Committee would not think it proper that a certificate of Post-Registration should acquire the status of absolutely conclusive evidence. Thus, to take a hypothetical example:-

27