3
The domicile of the wife became that of the husband.
Other countries did not apply same rules.
Recognition of foreign divorces.
5. (contd)
6.
It was
(b) The domicile of the wife becomes and remains
that of the husband on marriage. this inflexible rule that led Parliament to enact the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1937
(subsequently expanded in its effect by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1949). This legislation gave jurisdiction to the English Courts to entertain divorce suits on the part of a wife who, though domiciled abroad, had resided in England for
three years.
It is to be noted that in
enacting this legislation Parliament was incurring the same risk as faces Hong Kong today; namely, that if foreign Courts did not recognise such divorces then the Act would foster a fresh crop of "limping marriages".
(c) Most significant of the three points has been
the refusal of other countries to apply the
Thus same strict rules concerning domicile. there are some countries which consider that their nationals have a right to have their matrimonial disputes settled in the Courts of their own country regardless of where the parties may be domiciled.
It was this increasing number of cases where foreign Courts had assumed jurisdiction on grounds other than that of domicile which forced the English Courts to consider whether they could or should continue to with- hold recognition of decrees of divorce so granted. Breaches in the dyke appeared as long ago as 1906 (iii) when a divorce granted in one State of the U.S. was recognised as valid in England because the State of the husband's domicile would have accorded recognition to
(iii) Armitage
A.G.
(1906) P. 135.
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