Family law coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Family law coursework - Essay Example By virtue of Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act, Harold’s marriage is voidable and as such can be annulled. Section 12 (d) provides that a marriage is voidable if ‘†¦either party to the marriage did not validly consent to it, whether in consequence of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise2 Harold clearly did not exercise free will when he married Wendy. She threatened his livelihood by warning that she would tell Harold’s employers of his previous convictions for crimes of dishonesty. It is not unreasonable to assume that Harold married Wendy as a means of silencing Wendy and holding onto his job. What amounts to duress is not always clear. Early on, Butt J determined that a series of incidents perpetuated by the husband against the wife was capable of amounting to duress. In this particular case the husband somehow managed to trick the wife into assuming his debts, then refused to help her discharge them unless she agreed to marry him. Once he finally got her before the appropriate Justice of the Peace, he once again threatened to shoot her if she did not go through with the marriage. Butt J allowed the decree of nullity on the grounds that the wife had not honestly consented to the matrimonial union.3 Duress is not always founded on extreme application of pressure as witnessed in the case above. The facts of Buckland v Buckland are rather similar to Harold’s case. In Buckland’s case, a man developed a platonic relationship with a minor and was charged with corrupting a minor. His solicitor advised him that should he marry the minor, he could avoid facing a term of imprisonment. The man married the minor and subsequently petitioned the courts for a decree of nullity. Lord Scarman held that since the man reasonably feared going to prison his consent was not genuine.4 Some authority exist for the construction of duress to be aligned with an actual threat to