§ AMENDMENT OF REFERENCE TO CHILD IN
MATRIMONIAL CAUSES ACT, 1965, S. 2
§ In section 2(2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1965 (which provides that in determining an application to allow the presentation of a petition for divorce within three years from the date of the marriage the judge shall have regard to the interests of any relevant child) for the words `relevant child ' there shall be substituted the words child of the family within the meaning of Part I of the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act 1970 '.— [The Solicitor-General.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
1987§ The Solicitor-GeneralI beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
This new Clause substitutes in Section 2 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1965, a reference to the child of the family for the existing reference to the relevant child.
Section 2 of the 1965 Act embodies the rule, first introduced in divorce law by the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1937, that no petition for divorce may be presented within three years of the marriage unless the judge gives leave, and such leave may be given only in the most exceptional hardship to the petitioner or exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent. This rule is in no way affected by the Divorce Reform Act, 1969, and will remain the law when the Act comes into force.
The new Clause makes the necessary Amendment in Section 2 of the 1965 Act which flows from the changes in other provisions which have occurred.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time and added to the Bill.