Source: All England Reporter
Publisher Citation: [2003] All ER (D) 07 (Feb)
Court: Court of Appeal, Civil Division
Judge:

Thorpe and Arden LJJ
Representation Jas Chhotu (instructed by Henneberry & Co) for the petitioner.
  The respondent appeared in person.
Judgment Dates: 3 February 2003

Catchwords

Matrimonial law - Marriage - Validity - Wilful refusal to consummate - Petition for decree of nullity - Wife putting forward contradictory positions - Judge refusing to pronounce decree - Correctness of judge's decision.

The Case

Where a judge, at the trial of a petition for nullity of a marriage on the ground of wilful refusal to consummate, had been confronted with a situation in which counsel for the wife was asserting two contradictory things on instructions, he should have carried out a more profound investigation, taking oral evidence from both parties. Accordingly the petition for nullity would be ordered to be re-tried at the same time as a petition for divorce which had, since the original trial, been issued.

Practice Areas

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