Report No. 224

III. 15th Report of The Law Commission (1960)

3.1 The 15th Report of the Law Commission of India deals with the law relating to marriage and divorce amongst Christians in India. The Commission gave its proposal in the form of a draft Bill titled The Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill 1960. The Commission recommended that the proposed legislation should apply to all marriages solemnized within the territories of India whatever the domicile of the parties thereto, and that it should leave no vacuum therein.

It followed the scheme adopted in the Special Marriage Act 1954 and the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and also the pattern of similar legislation in England which binds all persons within the kingdom. Clause 35 (a) of the said Bill specifically deals with the jurisdiction of the Indian courts to grant divorce and reads:

"Nothing contained in this Act shall authorize any court -

(a) to make any decree of dissolution of marriage, except where-

(i) the parties to the marriage are domiciled in India at the time of the presentation of the petition ; or

(ii) the petitioner, being the wife, was domiciled in India immediately before the marriage and has been residing in India for a period of not less than three years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition."

(underlined for emphasis)

3.2 The above Bill proposed by the Law Commission was not enacted.