Nullity in the United Kingdom

Law of Nullity

The law of nullity clearly does have a role to play in family law but whether this role is still valuable in modern day family law is debateable. The definition of nullity is the invalidity of a marriage due to some defect existing at the time the marriage was celebrated (or sometimes arising afterwards). A decree of nullity can be granted if a marriage is either void or voidable and the grounds can be found in section 11 and section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. Many would argue that the law concerning nullity no longer has a valuable role to play since the law of nullity has ceased to be a significant form of relief from marriage as now the majority of people turn to the law of divorce (Cretney and Mason). In addition the law of nullity is in many ways similar to divorce so some would argue for the abolition of nullity and that we should continue to have the law of divorce. The law of nullity no doubt continues to have value under English law.

Author: Nerisa Jarrett