ABSTRACT

Despite the extensive changes in the legal and moral landscape since that time, the real catalyst has not been a religious revival (at least not in the Christian churches, which have become progressively more tolerant of divorce) but the forced marriage syndrome which escalated so much in the decade since the turn of the century that the Ministry of Justice, Foreign and Commonwealth and Home Offi ce has been obliged to set up a Forced Marriage Unit to provide information as well as practical help and support for potential and actual victims. Moreover, as victims of these forced marriages (usually young people of both sexes from the minority ethnic communities) often feel that they have never actually been married (as they gave no true consents) and divorce is frowned upon in their cultures, they have almost exclusively opted for annulments rather than divorces. This has led to a signifi cant resurgence of the use of nullity, especially as (although the special procedure for divorce decrees could not be used, and a court hearing was therefore necessary) the courts have been helpful in arranging for the court hearing to be as easy as possible for the luckless victims. Evidence has been allowed in some cases by video link and in even more protected circumstances, and petitioners have been allowed to withhold their addresses from respondents, in case of unwelcome reaction from the respondent or respondent’s family.