Marriage and Civil Partnership

Описание: BOOK REVIEW

MARRIAGE AND CIVIL PARTNERSHIP
The Modern Law of Formation, Nullity and Dissolution

By Michael Yelton

ISBN 978 1 78473 493 0

LexisNexis/Family Law

www.lexisnexis.co.uk


AN INSIGHTFUL AND UP TO DATE COMMENTARY AND GUIDE TO THE LEGAL COMPLEXITIES OF MARRIAGE AND CIVIL PARTNERSHIP FOLLOWING THE ENACTMENT OF THE DDSA 2020.


An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator


Family practitioners and certainly the judiciary will welcome the recent publication of this important and accessible guide to the complexities (and formidable they are) of the law and procedures which will be made applicable following the enactment of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA) and the revolutionary changes it introduces.

To say that this area of law is challenging is surely an understatement. So, if you are either a practitioner or an academic involved in this area -- perhaps struggling with many of the ins and well as the outs of the legal aspects of marriage, or divorce, or civil partnership -- this new publication from the Family Law imprint of LexisNexis should definitely help you cope.

‘The new grounds for divorce,’ says author Michael Yelton, 'can only be seen against the background, not only of the law of divorce as it has developed, but also of the formation of marriages and the grounds for nullification on which little detail has been written since Joseph Jackson’s scholarly volume on the “Formation and Annulment of Marriage” last published as long ago as 1969’.

Certainly, the publication of this book is nothing if not timely. And for interested lay readers as well as lawyers, it does make for informative as well as fascinating reading. The average
person (whoever that is) will probably regard marriage as a human institution as old as time, even though some convince themselves that it’s a bit old fashioned.

But, as the author points out in his introduction, ‘the law of marriage has evolved over many centuries without ever being comprehensively codified,’ and adds that ‘civil partnership was, as it were, added on to the existing system and more comprehensively defined.’

In the author’s opinion, the new grounds for divorce must been seen against the background of marriage itself -- in all its forms and complications -- as a state of being which has undergone evolution and certainly revolution across the centuries, with the most radical changes having taken place in the twenty-first century with the advent of civil partnership and single-sex marriage.


The author covers these developments in detail, including the formalities and consequences involved. Then follows the final seven chapters of the book, which offer, for example, the legal background leading up to the significant legislation of 2020 in all its relevant aspects, including -- to cite just two examples: staying proceedings for divorce, nullity and dissolution and recognition of foreign divorce.

Also note the final chapter which explains the differences in procedure as stipulated by the DDSA 2020 regarding the new system which will be dealt with ‘entirely on paper, or more
probably online’ -- innovations which some will say are not altogether free from complexities.

The book is an impressive work of insightful scholarship and practicality which should be acquired by anyone needing to gain a current and accurate perspective on the latest developments in this tangled, and yet fascinating, area of law at a time of such change.

The date of publication of this new paperback edition is cited as 22nd April 2022.