ABSTRACT
Reform of the law of divorce has been discussed almost since the Matrimonial Causes Act (MCA) 1973 consolidated the Divorce Reform Act 1969 and the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act 1970. That bout of reform, it was said, had been insufficient to achieve a civilised framework for divorce in a contemporary society where, in the opinion of both public and lawyers (ie, both academics and practitioners), there ought to be a non-contentious means of dissolving marriages without requiring the parties to make allegations against each other and without requiring the periods of separation in the MCA 1973 for either divorce by consent or on the basis that the parties had lived apart for so long that the marriage must be dead and should be recognised as such.
