Essay On Matrimonial Law

1. INTRODUCTION

Marriage under all marital laws is the unification of a man and a woman which imposes certain marital duties and accordingly confers to each of them certain legal rights . In case of any dispute arising out of the matrimony, a matrimonial relief or remedy could be sought by either party . Under Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, various matrimonial remedies (from section 9 to section 13 of the said Act) have been accorded to either parties of a marriage which for example include restitution of conjugal rights (under section - 9), judicial separation (under section - 10) as well as divorce (under section- 13). The researcher shall focus and lay emphasis on on the matrimonial remedy of Divorce as provided under section 13 .

In Ancient Hindu Law, marriage was renowned as a samaskar which means a sacred duty . It was considered as perfect in nature wherein the idea of separation did not

Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘Divorce’ as ‘legal dissolution of marriage’ i.e., it is the everlasting dissolution of marriage, the cancelling and/or reorganize of the legal duties and errands of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law. Since, there are no rights and obligations to maintain after this permanent severance, thus, either party after such disbanding is free to remarry.

However, it is important to distinguish divorce from ‘annulment’ to avoid any kind of confusion. Annulment declares the marriage null and void per se. It retroactively invalidates a marriage from the date of its formation. Annulling a marriage is as though it stands completely erased, i.e., the marriage, technically never even existed and was thus, never valid. Whereas on the other hand divorce is the court decree that terminates a