ABSTRACT
The registration of African customary marriages has long been a subject of controversial discussion. Among the reasons advanced for registration, perhaps the most common is the need to facilitate proof of marriage. Logically, registration should follow solemnization; for it connotes, in its ordinary meaning, no more than the official recording of a marriage already validly contracted under the appropriate law. The expedient of voluntary registration has been adopted in numerous other areas, as a temporary measure which will, it is hoped, prepare the way for compulsory registration. A matter which has sometimes caused difficulty is the question of the most appropriate means of legislating for the limitation of bride-price. Furthermore, registration is sometimes relied on as a means of establishing a degree of control over the formation of marriages and of ensuring the fulfilment of such conditions as may be imposed by custom or by statutory law.
