Conflict of Nullity Laws - Relevant Policies

Relevant Policies

Three public policies are relevant in the general conflict system:

1. Avoiding so-called “limping marriages”. Wherever possible, there should be international uniformity in defining a person's marital status so that people will not be treated as married under the law of one state, but not married under the law of another. However, there may be situations in which it would be quite unjust and inappropriate for the courts of one state to be bound by another state's laws as to status (see below).
2. Favor matrimonii upholds the validity of all marriages entered into with a genuine commitment. But, as states become increasingly secular and allow the termination of marriage through no fault divorce and other less confrontational mechanisms, the policy for the recognition and enforcement of foreign decrees may be changing to favor divortii instead of favor matrimonii.
3. Wherever possible, the results of any litigation should give effect to the legitimate expectations of the parties as to the validity of their marriage.
4. That the application of all rules should, wherever possible, produce predictable and appropriate outcomes. There is a clear benefit that laws should be certain and easy to administer. Courts have the benefit of expert evidence and time in which to conduct their legal analysis. But the same issues arise far more often in everyday situations where immigration officers, social welfare and tax authorities, and businesses will have to decide whether persons claiming an eligibility or a liability based on their status as a spouse are validly married. If conflict rules are obscure and complicated, this can result in real difficulties for all involved.

But the conflict rules must be consistent with the forum's domestic policies in relation to marriage. Hence, the further policy considerations are:

1. Even though policies related to community life reflect the views, opinions, and the prejudices of that community, local laws have a strong claim to specify the formal requirements for marriages celebrated within their jurisdiction (this is, after all, the reason that the lex loci celebrationis is usually accepted as the law to determine all formal requirements for the marriage). For example, the public interest requires that marriage ceremonies are performed openly and with due publicity, with all valid marriages properly recorded.
2. The public policy underpinning the lex fori (the law of the forum court) will allow the court to ignore foreign limitations on the right to marry which are considered offensive, e.g., those based on differences of race or ethnic origin, or which forbid persons of the same biological sex the capacity to marry. However, some states go further, e.g., in the United States, section 283 Second Restatement of Conflict of Laws provides:

A marriage which satisfies the requirements of the state where the marriage was contracted will everywhere be recognised as valid unless it violates the strong public policy of another state which had the most significant relationship to the spouses and the marriage at the time of the marriage.

i.e., it introduces a form of proper law test of policy which could potentially lead to the application of a third state's policies which is a confusing possibility.