L.2/2003
Law Reform
(Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 2003
A LAW to abolish the customary law
right to bring an action for breach of promise of marriage, subject to a saving
for such actions in respect of void marriages; to make provision, upon an
agreement to marry being ended, for the return of gifts made by one of them to
the other; and for purposes connected therewith.
Adopted by the
States 24th September 2002
Sanctioned by
Order of Her Majesty in Council 17th December 2002
Registered by the
Royal Court 3rd
January 2003
THE STATES, subject to the sanction of Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have
adopted the following Law –
1 Interpretation
In this Law, “commencement date” means the date this Law
comes into force.
2 Agreement
to marry unenforceable
(1) An
agreement between 2 persons to marry one another shall not have effect as a
contract giving rise to legal rights.
(2) No
cause of action shall lie for breach of such an agreement, whatever the law
applicable to it.
(3) This
Article –
(a) shall
not affect any action commenced before the commencement date; but
(b) shall
otherwise have effect in relation to agreements entered into before the
commencement date.
3 Return
of gifts
(1) A
party to an agreement to marry (“the giver”) who makes a gift of
property to the other party to the agreement on the express or implied
condition that it shall be returned if the agreement is ended shall not be
prevented from recovering the property by reason only that the giver ends the
agreement.
(2) The
gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift.
(3) The
presumption in paragraph (2) may be rebutted by proving that the ring was
given on the express or implied condition that it should be returned if, for
any reason, the marriage does not take place.
4 Damages
for surviving party to void marriage
(1) Where
a person dies after the commencement date (“the deceased”) and is
survived by someone (“the survivor”) who, whether before or after
the commencement date had, in good faith, entered into a void marriage with the
deceased, then, notwithstanding Article 2 of this Law, a cause of action
shall continue to accrue to the survivor in damages against the estate of the
deceased.
(2) A
cause of action shall not so accrue if the marriage of the deceased and the
survivor was dissolved or annulled during the deceased’s lifetime and the
dissolution or annulment is recognized by the law of the Island or if the
survivor has, during the lifetime of the deceased, entered into a later
marriage.
5 Amendment
of Customary Law Amendment (Jersey) Law 1948
After Article 1(2) of the Customary
Law Amendment (Jersey) Law 1948, as amended,[1] there shall be inserted the
following paragraph –
“(2A) Paragraph (2)(b) of this Article shall
have effect only for the purposes of the cause of action preserved by
Article 4 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous
Provisions) (Jersey) Law 2002.[2]”.
6 Citation
and commencement
This Law may be cited as Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions)
(Jersey) Law 2003 and shall come into force on the seventh day following its
registration.
C.M. NEWCOMBE
Greffier of the States.