Latest updates
- An application was made for recognition of a 2009 marriage as valid. The applicant, born female, had lived as a man from 1990, but had not obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate once they became available in 2005, and hence was still legally female at the time of the marriage, when same sex marriage was not yet legal. This had caused problems with the Department of Work and Pensions regarding pension entitlement. Cobb J considered the case law and stated that, both now and at the time of the marriage in 2009, the applicant must be treated by the court as being legally a woman. The United Kingdom had not failed to provide a legal mechanism for the recognition of the relationship, since the couple could enter a civil partnership, marry as a same-sex couple, or marry as an opposite-sex couple after obtaining a gender recognition certificate. At the relevant time a marriage between two female partners was void at its inception and the court did not have the power to make the declaration sought. Judgment, 28/11/2019, free
- On Sunday, the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration etc) Act 2019 came into force in accordance with section 6(3) of the Act. News, 29/05/2019, free
- An Act to make provision about the registration of marriage; to make provision for the extension of civil partnerships to couples not of the same sex; to make provision for a report on the registration of pregnancy loss; to make provision about the investigation of still-births; and for connected purposes. News, 02/04/2019, free
- Heterosexual couples in England and Wales will be able to choose to have a civil partnership rather than get married, Theresa May has announced. News, 02/10/2018, free
- Figures published in latest ONS statistical bulletin News, 17/08/2018, free
Latest know-how
- Supreme Court decision making a declaration that ss.1 and 3 Civil Partnership Act 2004, to the extent that they preclude a different-sex couple from entering into a civil partnership, are incompatible with article 14 taken in conjunction with article 8 ECHR. Case note, 28/06/2018, members only
- In a tweet: Court of Appeal upholds ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships Case note, 22/03/2017, members only
- In a tweet: Use case management powers to direct abbreviated hearing and consider applications without merit Case note, 07/11/2016, members only
- High Court rules that the CPA 2004 does not breach human rights of opposite-sex couples who cannot obtain a civil partnership Case note, 04/02/2016, members only
- Case note, 17/12/2009, members only