About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

14 McGill L. J. 209 (1968)
The Federal Divorce Act (1968) and the Constitution

handle is hein.journals/mcgil14 and id is 219 raw text is: The. Federal Divorce Act (1968) and. the Constitution F. J. E. Jordan * Introduction Throughout the proceedings of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate nd the House of Commons on Divorce which sat from June, 1966 through April of the following year and throughout the debates of the House of Commons and the Senate auring December, 1967 and January, 1968 on Bill C-187, nearly as much attentioni was focussed on questions of legislative jurisdiction in relation to divorce and related matters as was directed to the .substantive changes to be made in reforming the grounds for divorce in Canada. On some of the constitutional issueg, opinions a to legislative competence were nearly unanimous; on others, they were much more divided. In Bill C-187 as finally enacted, a substantial number of these issues were resolved in favour of the federal Parliament's jurisdiction and sections were included in the Divorce Act' dealing with the creation of a federal divorce court, the jurisdiction of provincial courts, questions of domicile and recognition of foreign decrees and matters of corollary relief in divorce proceedings; how- ever, at least two significant issues were left untouched by Parliament because of doubts as to its legislative competence in relation to them: judicial separation and corollary matters and the division of. matri- monial property on dissolution of a marriage. Also omitted from the legislation, without comment, is the matter of annulment of marriage. In result, we have a new federal divorce law - indeed, the first real federal divorce law - which, in going as far as it does to provide a comprehensive coverage of the field of divorce, raises some doubts as to the validity of certain provisions in the Act, while at the same time, in stopping short of the desired coverage, leaves us with an enactment which fails to deal with some important aspects of the termination of marriage otherwise than by death of a spouse. Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Queen's University. •* I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to my colleague Professor Gordon Bale who prepared the parts of this paper dealing -with Jurisdictioi of the Courts and Domicile and Recognition. 116 Eliz. II, S.C. 1967-68, c. 24.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most