Thursday, June 26, 2008
Down Memory Lane #5
Reading through the 25th anniversary special issue of Resolution's Review, I came across a term that I haven't heard in a long while: jactitation of marriage. For those readers who are somewhat younger than me, jactitation of marriage was a procedure whereby the petitioner sought an order against a person who falsely asserted that they were married to the petitioner. It now seems strange that this was so commonplace that it required a procedure of its own, although I certainly never dealt with a case myself. In fact, I'm not entirely sure why I was aware of the procedure - was it included in the family law course when I was at the College of Law? Not surprisingly, jactitation of marriage was consigned to the dustbin of history, when it was abolished by section 61 of the Family Law Act 1986.
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Surely jactitation is that against which the procedure is brought by the petitioner rather than the procedure itself.
ReplyDeleteTechnically you are correct, but it was called a "petition for jactitation of marriage", and I think this was normally just shortened to "jactitation of marriage" as if that were the procedure rather than the complaint, although I may be wrong - it was a long time ago!
ReplyDeletePedant. ;-)
The College of Law at Chester definitely used to dictate it in 1976. Or was that Lancaster Gate two years later? It wasn't exactly prevalent outside those page. I just remember it was one of the terms I introduced German translation students to when I was teaching them about divorce from 1982 on.
ReplyDeleteSo it was the College! I was at Chester in '82-'83.
ReplyDeleteWe at BPP used to teach it as a legal research challenge...
ReplyDeleteDid they still do toasted Cheshire Cheese baps at the pub in Christleton?
ReplyDeleteAh, my local was out in the country, where I lived.
ReplyDelete