26 Nov 2019
The court accepted the evidence that a celebratory dinner occurred and that Grandma formally recognised Fourth Aunt as daughter-in-law and confirmed the husband-and-wife relationship; the court found key opposing accounts inconsistent and unpersuasive, and on that basis treated the marriage as having been celebrated and valid.
1 Dec 2010
On the balance of probabilities the court found Madam So was validly married to the deceased in 1963 and that Madam Lam did not validly marry the deceased prior to 7 October 1971; because the alleged marriage occurred after that date (or was void by reason of the prior valid marriage) it is not recognized by Hong Kong law under the MRO; accordingly the plaintiffs succeed and are entitled to administration of the estate.
28 Feb 1997
Because expert material placed before the court showed that the Crown would be unlikely to prove that a valid customary marriage existed in July 1983, the conviction based primarily on the appellant's admission was unsafe and, in the interests of justice, the appeal must be allowed and the conviction set aside.
22 May 1987
The 29 December 1973 ceremony was not a valid marriage under the law of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam because it was not performed or witnessed before a state official; accordingly the Petitioner is entitled to a decree nisi of nullity and, given the circumstances and the Respondents lack of opposition, time is abridged and the decree absolute is ordered forthwith; the prayers for dissolution premised on a subsisting valid marriage are dismissed and the court declines to declare the 15 April 1982 marriage valid for want of sufficient material.
9 Apr 1986
The court found on the balance of the evidence that the deceased was born in China and had acquired a domicile of choice in Hong Kong by 1942; the 1942 ceremony, viewed as a whole against the flexible, evolving character of Chinese customary law, satisfied the essential rites and constituted a valid Chinese customary marriage; the late Macau registrations were aimed at obtaining travel documents and did not defeat the earlier facts; no evidence proved dissolution of the first marriage before the 1952 marriage; therefore the plaintiff was the lawful widow and entitled to letters of administrat…
15 Dec 1970
The court found the marriage valid as a Chinese customary marriage but dismissed the wife's application because the acts did not establish cruelty of a persistent and grave character and, since the parties were living apart by mutual consent with no express or implied agreement to maintain, there was no liability on the husband to provide maintenance.