BY LORD PENZANZE

  By Lord Penzanze in Hyde v Hyde [1886] LR 1 P&D 130

 "I perceive that marriage, as understood in Christendom, may for this purpose be defined as a  voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others"

If Lord Penzanze would be able to rise from the dead today - he would probably suffer a heart attack. English law has changed a lot through the seasons of time.


Today, English Law allows a valid marriage to be terminated by several means as follows:


a. the death of one of the parties
b. by a decree of dissolution
c. via pronunciation of  divorce by a Court of competent jurisdiction.

Governing Statute in Malaysia.

 In  Malaysia, the law at present governing divorce for non- Muslims is the Law reform ( Marriage &  Divorce) Act 1976 ( Act 164) . S 8 of the LRA provides that marriages may be dissolved by


a. death by one of the parties
b. an order of a Court  of competent jurisdiction
c. a decree made by a Court of competent jurisdiction that the marriage is null and void.


( There was some ruckus raised by the opposition  in Parliament as to whether we have copied English Law.The Ruling Party solemnly declared that we have enough brains to draft our own laws and promptly shouted down the opposition)