Maharaj v Maharaj

• Jurisdiction: Trinidad & Tobago
• Judge: Blagden, J.
• Judgment Date: 24 January 1958
• Neutral Citation: TT 1958 HC 1
• Docket Number: Suit No. 87 of 1955
• Court: High Court (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Date: 24 January 1958

High Court

Blagden, J.

Suit No. 87 of 1955

Maharaj

and

Maharaj

Family law - Hindu marriage — Application by wife for dissolution of marriage — Whether Supreme Court had jurisdiction to pronounce a decree of divorce in relation to a Hindu marriage — Hindu Marriage Ordinance, s. 10 — Marriage Ordinance, Ch. 29, No. 2 — Judicature Ordinance, Ch. 3, No. 1, s. 20.

Blagden, J.

1 This is a wife's undefended petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery.

2 The parties were married according to Hindu rites and ceremonies, and their marriage was duly registered under The Hindu Marriage Ordinance Ch.29 No.5 and was, in fact, a valid Hindu marriage under sec.9 of that ordinance.

3 The preliminary point arose as to whether this court had jurisdiction to pronounce a decree of divorce of a Hindu marriage, or to put it in another way, whether a Hindu marriage could be recognised for the purpose of relief under the matrimonial law of this colony.

4 I have been referred to no recorded local decision on the subject but I am assured, and accept, that that jurisdiction has repeatedly been exercised. This information is encouraging and indicative of the existence of the jurisdiction, but it is not, of course, conclusive.

5 Divorce jurisdiction in this colony springs from sec.20 of Judicature Ordinance Ch.3 No.1 which, omitting irrelevant words, reads as follows:

• A20.(1) There shall be vested in the court all such jurisdiction as is vested in or exercisable by the High Court of Justice in England, including the jurisdiction in matrimonial causes and matters…….

• (2) The jurisdiction hereby vested in the court shall be exercised as nearly as possible in accordance with the practice and procedure for the time being in such practice and procedure is not displaced by rules of court made in pursuance of this ordinance……

• (3) Nothing herein shall authorise the court to make any decree of dissolution of marriage where the parties to the marriage have been married pursuant to the provisions of the Immigration (Indian) Ordinance of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Ordinance.

6 Standing as it does unamended sub-sec(3) raises and implication that the only limitation on that jurisdiction is in respect of marriages coming under the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Registration Ordinance and the Immigration (Indian) Ordinance, (as substantially amended by sec.27 of the Hindu Marriage Ordinance), and that there is...