ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a wider picture of the argumentations elaborated in relation to practices of Hindu divorce, but also investigates the potential for local gender-shaped agencies to achieve favourable outcomes for women. It proceeds with three cases in which customary Hindu divorce has been brought to the attention of the British and the United States authorities. The chapter focuses on jurisprudential argumentation against customary divorce, highlights the use and misuse of Hindu tradition by law courts. It reveals strategies underlying the insistence on the perfection of marriage as a sacrament. The chapter analyses the surprising reality of the relative frequency of judgments recognising legitimacy to customary divorce. We have seen the ambiguity of the role of notaries as primary mediators between law and custom. In their attempt to meet both the requirements of the official legal system and the expectations of their clients, their practice sometimes verges on the unlawful.
