The Law Reform (Divorce) Act 1956

Divorce Under the Divorce Ordinance 1952, the grounds of dissolution for marriage were apply equally to men and woman, which were adultery, desertion for a period of three years, cruelty and unsoundness of mind. These provisions have continued under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1956 when LRA came into force in Malaysia. The LRA differs from the previous ordinance because it extends existing provisions by adding new clauses to the inquiry of the facts leading to the breakdown of marriage. The Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1956 (LRA 1956), provides three grounds of divorce:

a) Dissolution on ground of conversion to Islam.

b) Dissolution by mutual consent.

c) Breakdown of marriage to be sole ground of divorce.

Jurisdiction

It should be noted that section 47 of the LRA must be read together with section 3 of the Civil Law Act 1956 which provides that the common law of England and rules of equity shall only apply if there’s no provision being made by any written law in Malaysia as it stood on 7th April 1956. Thus, in cases where a lacuna exists in Malaysian legislation, it would be inappropriate to refer to common law principles based on English statutory law passed after the 7th of April 1956. The court which has the jurisdiction to hear applications or petitions for divorce is the High Court. Section 48 (1) of the LRA states the court jurisdiction to make a decree of divorce if:

(a) The marriage has been registered or deemed to be registered under the LRA; or

(b) The marriage between both parties was contracted under a law providing that, or the marriage is monogamous;

In such case, the court will have the power to not only grant a decree of divorce but also make a provision for the wife or husband as well as for the support, care and the custody of children if there’s any. The court is further vested with the power to attach any conditions to the decree of divorce as it thinks fit. It must be noted that section 50 which generally disallows a petition for divorce to be presented to the court within two years of marriage does not apply to any petition under section 51. If the non-convert spouse failed to petition for divorce, the marriage shall remain as the convert spouse could petition under any ground by virtue of section 3 (3) of the LRA. Section 51 must be read with section 3 (3), which generally means that the court will have the power to grant decree of divorce under section 51, and such decree shall notwithstanding any other written law to the contrary, be valid against spouse who has converted to Islam. Difficulties and complication will arise from section 51. If the Act does not apply to Muslims, it would be difficult to see how the court can make a decree or make any other order against such