P v P (High Court Civil Cause 16 of 1939) [1939] ZMHCNR 23 (31 December 1939)
It is in the interests of public policy to allow the parties to marry before the birth of the child so the child is legitimate, and such applications are usually granted.
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [1939] ZMHCNR 23
- Parties
- Petitioner: P.; Respondent: P.; Consenting Authority: King’s Proctor
- Court
- High Court of Northern Rhodesia
- Jurisdiction
- Zambia
- Case Number
- High Court Civil Cause 16 of 1939
- Procedural Posture
- Civil Cause / Application to Shorten Time Between Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute
- Outcome
- application granted
- Legal Topics
- Divorce, Decree Nisi, Decree Absolute, Legitimacy of Child, Public Policy
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
P.
Petitioner
P.
Respondent
King’s Proctor
Consenting Authority
Procedural Posture
Civil Cause / Application to Shorten Time Between Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the court should shorten the period between decree nisi and decree absolute in the interests of public policy
Ratio Decidendi
It is in the interests of public policy to allow the parties to marry before the birth of the child so the child is legitimate, and such applications are usually granted.
Court Disposition
application granted
Orders
- The period between decree nisi and decree absolute is shortened to two months and twenty-five days.
- Costs in the cause.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
1 paragraphs
[Vol. II P. v. P. High Court Civil Cause No. 16 of 1939. Shortening of time for decree absolute-public policy. The facts and law in this application appear from the judgment hereunder. The period between the pronouncing of a decree nisi and its being made absolute is now three months unless the Court shall fix a shorter time. R obin son , J . This is an application for shortening the time between decree nisi and decree absolute. The woman named in the petition is about to be delivered o f a child, the father being the respondent. It is desired that the decree absolute should be forwarded in order that the woman named and the respondent may be free to marry and the child may be born legitimate instead of a bastard. In my opinion that is in the interests o f public policy and that same view is held by the Courts in England with the result that these applications are usually granted— see Rayden and Mortimer, 3rd Ed., p. 4281 and Halsbury (Halisham), Vol. 10, p. 828. The only case which at first sight presents any difficulty is that o f P. v. P. (1927), 44, T. L. R. 114, where a petitioning wife’s appli cation to expedite the hearing so that the decree might be made absolute and the husband enabled to marry the woman named in the petition before the birth o f a child expected to be bom to the woman as a result o f her relations with the husband was refused as being against public policy. But in that case the application was to expedite the hearing and it may well have been argued (unfortunately the report is not available) that if it was granted the Court at the hearing might be biased on the big point which the petitioner had to prove, namely the adultery o f the husband respondent. I grant this application, the King’s Proctor consenting, and order that the period between decree nisi and decree absolute be shortened to two months and twenty-five days as prayed. Costs in the cause. 1 See now Rayden on Divorce, 6th Edition, pp. 611 e t s e q .—E d ito r.