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Vesting powers in officiants : reforming weddings law in England and Wales; lessons from Australia’s Muslim communities
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Akhtar, Rajnaara C., Krayem , Ghena and Buckley, Anisa (2023) Vesting powers in officiants : reforming weddings law in England and Wales; lessons from Australia’s Muslim communities. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 35 (1). pp. 49-69. ISSN 1358-8184.
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Abstract
Drawing on new and original qualitative empirical data, this article explores Muslim marriage practices in Australia, which has a celebrant-based system of marriage and de facto couple recognition in family law. Specifically, it investigates the impact of this dual framework on the manifestation and prevalence of religious-only (nikah) weddings. The findings are used to assess the likely impact of the Law Commission’s recommendations for weddings law reform in England and Wales, in particular the shift from the regulation of buildings to the regulation of wedding ‘officiants’. It suggests that an officiant-based system will have a positive impact on those who wish to marry legally, removing the double burden of organising separate religious and civil weddings and increasing the prevalence of legally binding marriages occurring in Muslim communities. It further shows that imam-celebrants may be more integrated into the state legal formalities for marriage in their dual roles, taking each seriously but adhering to their legal duties if in conflict. However, the findings acknowledge that reforms to weddings law will not wholly resolve the issue, as many couples will continue to voluntarily enter non-legally binding marriages. Such couples are protected by their de facto relationship status in Australia but will remain unprotected in England and Wales in light of the government’s recent rejection of cohabitation law reform.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman K Law [LC] > KD England and Wales K Law [Moys] > KD Religious Systems K Law [LC] > KN Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Child and Family Law Quarterly | ||||||
| Publisher: | LexisNexis | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1358-8184 | ||||||
| Official Date: | March 2023 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 35 | ||||||
| Number: | 1 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 49-69 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
| Copyright Holders: | Rajnaara Akhtar, Ghena Krayem, Anisa Buckley, Child and Family Law Quarterly | ||||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 14 April 2023 | ||||||
| Related URLs: |
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