New Clause.—(EXTENSION OF JURISDIC- TION OF COURT OF SESSION IN CERTAIN CONSISTORIAL PROCEEDINGS.) (Hansard, 8 July 1949)

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

This Clause follows upon a discussion in Committee. One of the Amendments made there, with the approval of everyone in that Committee, was to secure that a woman resident for three years in this country should have recourse to the English courts notwithstanding that her husband was domiciled outside the jurisdiction of the English courts. In the Debate during the Committee stage my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Ayr Burghs (Sir T. Moore) put forward the contention that this facility should be extended to Scotland. The Lord Advocate kindly said that he would give consideration to that proposal.

It is with some temerity that I, an English Member, put forward any proposal to alter the law of Scotland, but I hope that my temerity in this respect will be overlooked and that the Government and indeed the House, will look favourably upon this Clause. It is a considerable extension of the law which might bring benefits to many women who are living, and have for many years lived, in this country, and who have at the moment, unless this change is affected, no possibility of securing their freedom, no matter what matrimonial offences their husbands may have committed, because the husband is outside the jurisdiction of the English and Scottish courts.

§ The Lord Advocate (Mr. John Wheatley)

As the hon. and learned Member for Daventry (Mr. Manningham-Buller) has told the House, when the Bill was in Committee a similar Clause was being considered in relation to England when the hon. and gallant Member for Ayr Burghs (Sir T. Moore) raised the question as to whether or not similar provision should be made for Scotland. At that stage I pointed out to the Committee that the question had never been fully considered or discussed by respon- 2506 sible bodies in Scotland, and that accordingly, until that procedure had been followed, it was not possible to give any view as to whether or not it was desirable to provide a counterpart to the provisions of the English Clause for Scotland. However, in the interval, I was able to arrange to remit this question to the Standing Committee on Legal Reform in Scotland. They considered the question both from the point of view of the merits, and from the point of view that a provision to this effect was being made in respect of England.

That Committee duly reported to me, pointing out that they felt that if a facility was being given in England for the extension of jurisdiction in relation to divorce on the lines set out in the Clause which was before the Committee it would be most invidious if similar provisions were not made for Scotland, that it would give rise to a great deal of social feeling if a woman in England were able to seek redress in the courts on this ground of jurisdiction, while a woman in similar circumstances in Scotland was excluded because of the existing principles of jurisdiction based solely on the grounds of domicile. They accordingly recommended that a similar provision should be made in respect of Scotland. I communicated that to the hon. and learned Member for Daventry, and the Clause now before us gives effect to that proposal.

May I point out to the House that apart altogether from the consideration to which I have referred, the application of this Clause to Scotland and the extension of this jurisdiction to Scotland eliminates what might have been a very grave difficulty in international law. Questions might have arisen as to whether or not the Scottish courts would have or could have recognised a decree of divorce granted by the English courts on the basis of the jurisdiction now being established if similar jurisdiction did not apply in Scotland. But in respect of the fact that both countries have now accepted this as a ground of jurisdiction, that difficult international problem will not arise; accordingly, decrees granted will, I am sure, be recognised by the courts of both countries as being valid and effective decrees, recognised in the respective countries. For that reason, we are prepared to accept this Clause.