KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF LAW
COURSE UNIT : FAMILY LAW 1
COURSE UNIT : FAMILY LAW
YEAR : 2:1
GROUP : ONE
LECTURER : Ms. MBABAZI HAJARAH
COURSEWORK: CHURCH MARRIAGE
NAME REGISTRATION NUMBER SIGNATURE
NALUBWAMA CHRISTINE 2024-08-26994
DRAVUGA SAMUEL 2024-08-27271
NAMUMPA LILIAN 2024-08-29043
MUGISHA ALLAN 2024-08-27190
NGANDA JORDAN 2024-08-33146
MBIBO SAMSON 2024-08-27571
DIAMOND GRACE KIRABO 2024-08-31388
NANSIKOMBI MICHELLE 2024-08-28231
AHIMBISIBWE ELIJAH 2024-08-33131
NANKUNDA ENID 2024-08-27256

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MARRIAGE
Marriage was defined in the case of Hyde v Hyde to mean voluntary union for life
of one man and one woman to the exclusion of the others. Marriage in Uganda is
enshrined under the Marriage Act Cap 146.

CHURCH MARRIAGE
The marriage Act Cap 146 is silent about the definition of Church marriage.
However, church marriage was defined in the case of Hyde v Hyde to mean a
voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of the
others.
Or
Church marriage refers to a legally recognized, monogamous Christian marriage
celebrated in a licensed place of worship, where the ceremony is conducted by an
authorized religious leader or minister, following the stipulations outlined in the
marriage Act. The couples are wedded according to the Christian faith and the
Christian faith includes; the Catholics, Anglicans, seventh day Adventist, orthodox,
Pentecostals among others.
ELEMENTS OF CHURCH MARRIAGE.
Voluntary. The parties intending to undertake the marriage from church must not
be subject to any kind of force or pressure against their will. This was illustrated in
the case of Parajoic V Parajoic 1959 the court held that real consent was absent
despite comprehension of the ceremony, the portioner had been driven by her
father’s terror and threats, the marriage was thus voidable and the decree of
nullity was granted on grounds of duress and mistake.
For Life. Church marriage is intended to last forever “For better for worse”. This
means that nothing should cut short church marriage save for Death, divorce or
separation by judicial process. In Hyde V Hyde provided that marriage is a lifetime
commitment.
Heterosexual: this means that church marriages prohibit marriages between
same sex for example a man and a man, woman and a woman. This was captured

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in the constitution of Uganda under Article 31(2) (a), it provides that marriage
between persons of the same sex is prohibited.

This was illustrated in the case of Corbet V Corbet 1970, In this particular case the
parties went through a ceremony of marriage at the time of marriage, the
petitioner knew that the respondent had been registered at birth as being of the
male sex and had undergone a sex change operation and since the operation had
lived as a woman. After 14 days of marriage the petitioner files a petition of a
declaration that the marriage was null and void on the ground that the
respondent was a person of the male sex or alternatively for a decree of nullity on
a decree of non-consummation of marriage. It was held among other things that
marriage is essentially a relationship between a man and a woman, the
respondent having been a biological male from birth rendered the so-called
marriage void. It was held that the respondent was incapable of consummating
the marriage and it was a nullity.
Monogamous. This where the marriage consists of one man one woman. Unlike
customary marriages which potentially polygamous, church marriages emphasize
one fresh union between one man and on woman as exemplified in genesis 2:24.
In the case of Chard V Chard 1955 the husband married the respondent while the
formal marriage was still subsisting. the issue before court was inter-alia, the
validity of the second marriage and court held that, the second marriage was null
and void for the wife of the first marriage was still alive and from the facts before
court it could not be presumed that she was already dead.
PRELIMINARIES/ PRE- REQUISITES FOR CHURCH MARRIAGE
The marriage Act cap 146 spells out the requirements which parties to an
intended marriage must satisfy prior to the marriage. Some requirements are
substantive and others are procedural.
Substantive procedure
1) Residence. Section 10(1)(a) of the marriage Act provides inter alia that at
least one of the parties to the intended marriage must have resided in the

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 district where the marriage is to be celebrated for at least 15 days
preceding the granting of the certificate.
2) Age. Each of the parties not being a widow/ widower must be 21 years of
age and if he/she is under 21 years of age then consent of the parents must
be sought as provided for under section 10(1)(b) of the marriage Act. The
constitution under Article 31 provides that men and women of age
eighteen years and above have a right to marry and to found a family and
are entitled to equal rights in marriage.
3) Consent. Section 18 of the marriage Act provides that if there is no parent
or guardian of the party under 21 years of age residing in Uganda and
capable of consenting to the marriage, then the Minister or Judge of the
High court may consent to the marriage in writing. This was elaborated in
the case of Roberts v Roberts 1978 here the father denied to consent to his
son’s intended marriage on grounds of the responsibilities it would bring to
the minor however court held that where consent is unreasonably
withheld, then the court can go ahead and give its consent overriding the
decision in section 18 of the marriage Act and that the consent shall be as
effectual as if the father or mother had consented.
4) Sex. The intended marriage must be heterosexual that is to say people of
different sex for example man and woman and not woman to woman or
man to man as prohibited by Article 31(2a) of the constitution of Uganda.
This was in the case of Corbett v Corbett 1971 where court dissolved the
marriage on grounds of same sex and further held that the sex must have
been attained biologically that is at the time of birth and not by artificial
means.
5) Monogamous in nature. Church marriage in Uganda is strictly
monogamous. Meaning one man can only be married to one woman at a
time as illustrated in the case of R v Allen 1872. The defendant was charged
with bigamy having married again while his former wife was still alive.
Therefore, court held that the second marriage was invalid on grounds that
his wife was still alive and not divorced therefore the marriage was still
subsisting.
6) Prohibited degrees. Parties should not be within the prohibited degrees of
marriage either by relationship of blood or by marriage as provided for in
Schedule 3 of the Customary Marriage Registration Act as husband’s father,
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 mother’s brother, brother sister, cousin among others. This was also
emphasized in the case of Bruno Kiwuwa V Ivan Sserunkuuma and Juliet
Namazzi 2006 where court held that the custom of Baganda should be
respected and followed and found no reason why the custom in issue
should only apply to customary marriage and not marriage under the
Marriage Act.
7) None of the parties must be in a subsisting marriage or legally married to
another person either under customary law or the marriage Act than the
intended spouse. Section 34 of the marriage Act provides that any person
married under this or whose marriage is declared by this Act to be valid,
shall be incapable, during the continuance of that marriage, of contracting
a valid marriage under any customary law, but nothing in this act shall
affect the validity of any marriage contracted under or in accordance with
any customary law, or in any manner applied to marriages so contracted.

PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENT

 Notice. Section 6 of the marriage Act provides that whenever any person’s
desire to marry, one of the parties to the intended marriage shall sign and give
to the registrar of the district in which the marriage is intended to take place a
notice in Form A in schedule 1 of this Act.
 After a notice is lodged the registrar waits for 21 days before the parties can
get married at the lapse of 21 days and if no objection to the intended
marriage is lodged, then the registrar shall issue the parties a certificate
granting them to marry.
 The marriage should take place after 21 days of the notice have elapsed but
within 3 months from the date of the notice section 6 of the marriage Act.
 Section 11 of the marriage Act provides that where the marriage does not
take place within 3 months after the date of the notice, the notice and all
proceedings consequent on it shall be void; and a fresh notice must be given
before the parties can lawfully marry.

CAVEATS
Where there are objections to the intended marriage, a caveat may be lodged
as provided by section 13 of the marriage act by either a person whose
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consent is required or by a person who may know of any just cause why the
marriage should not take place, may enter a caveat against the issue of the
registrar’s certificate, by writing at any time before its issue the word
“Forbidden” opposite to the entry of the notice in the marriage notice book,
and appending to the word his or her name and place of abode, and the
grounds upon or by reason of which he or she claims to forbid the issue of the
certificate; and the registrar shall not issue the certificate until the caveat shall
be removed under section 14, 15 and 16. When a caveat has been lodged the
registrar forwards the matter to High court which reviews the grounds for
lodging the caveat and the courts decisions on the matter is final. See Bruno
Kiwuwa V Namazzi case

REMOVAL OF THE CAVEAT

Section 15 of the marriage Act provides that if the High Court decides that the
certificate ought to be issued, the Judge shall remove the caveat by cancelling
the word “Forbidden” in the Marriage Notice Book in ink, and writing in the
marriage notice book, immediately below that entry and cancellation, the
words “Cancelled by order of the High Court” and signing his or her name to
the removal of the caveat.
The registrar shall issue the certificate and the marriage may proceed as if the
caveat had not been entered, but the time that has elapsed between the
entering and the removal of the caveat shall not be computed in the period of
3 months specified in section 10 of this Act.
And the marriage Act section 16 provides that the High Court may award
compensation and costs to the party injured, if it appears that a caveat was
entered on insufficient grounds.

Procedure followed for a church marriage to take place

1. The marriage must be announced in church for three consecutive weeks

(21 days) before the marriage takes place.
2. The church where the marriage is to be celebrated must be licensed and
authorized under the law to conduct marriages as provided for under
section 19 of the marriage Act which states that marriages maybe be
celebrated in any licensed place of worship by any recognized minister
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 of the church, denomination or body to which the place of worship
belongs, and according to the rites or usages of marriages observed in
that church, denomination or body. As this was expounded in the case
of Gereis v Yagoub 1997 where the couple went through a purported
marriage in a Coptic orthodox church, neither the church nor the priest
who conducted the ceremony were licensed for marriages and no prior
notice was given to the superintendent registrar.
Court held that the marriage was void as it failed to meet the
requirements of a valid church marriage, one being giving Notice to the
Superintendent Registrar and Celebrating the marriage in a licensed
place and by an authorized person or minister.
3. The ceremony must take place between 8:00am and 6:00pm as
provided for under section 19(2) of the marriage Act and states that the
marriage shall be celebrated with open doors between the hours of
eight o’clock in the forenoon and six o’clock in the afternoon, and the
goes ahead to provide for the witnesses as it states in the same
subsection that the marriage must be celebrated in the presence of two
or more witnesses besides the officiating minister.
4. The marriage certificate is signed by the bride and groom, two witnesses
and the religious minister who conducts the marriage, during the
ceremony as seen in sections 22(1),23 and 24 of the marriage Act as
follows;
Section 22(1) provides that the Minister shall cause to be printed and
delivered to the several registrars and to the recognized ministers of
licensed place of worship, books of marriage certificates in duplicate and
with counterfoils in Form E in schedule 1 to this Act
Section 23 provides that immediately after the celebration of any
marriage by a minister, the officiating minister shall fill out in duplicate a
marriage certificate with the particulars required by Form E in schedule
1 to this Act, and state also and enter in the counterfoil the number of
the certificate, the date of the marriage, the names of the parties and
the names of the witnesses.
Section 24 Provides that the certificate shall be signed in duplicate by
the officiating minister, the parties and two or more witnesses to the
marriage.
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 5. The marriage certificate should be given to the parties after the
celebration of the marriage as per section 24(2) of this Act.

CIRCUMSTANCES INVALIDATING CHURCH MARRIAGE

These are provided for under section 32 of the marriage Act as follows
Section 32(2) a marriage shall be null and void if both parties knowingly
and willfully acquiesce in its celebration
a) In any place other than a licensed place of worship, except where
authorized by the Minister’s license;
b) Under a false name or names;
c) Without the registrar’s certificate of notice or Minister’s license duly issued
as it was in the earlier cited case of Gereis v Yagoub 1997; In this case M
and w went through a prohibited marriage in a Coptic orthodox church.
Neither the church nor the priest who conducted the marriage ceremony
were linseed for marriages, and no prior notice was given to the
superintendent registrar. The priest warned M and W that they would have
to have a civil as well, but for some reason did not do this. When the
relationship broke down a year later, W sought a degree of nullity but M
argued there had never been a void marriage that could be annulled.
Granting W’s application, the judge said the parties had treated the
relationship as a marriage – M had claimed a married man’s tax allowance,
for example – and since it was clearly void, there should be a decree of
nullity. Obiter, no decree would be needed (and no offence would have
been committed by the celebrant) if the ceremony was clearly no more
than a “mock marriage”, as for instance in theoretical production.
LEGAL EFFECTS OF CHURCH MARRIAGE.
1) Marriage status:
Once married under the Marriage Act, a party is prohibited from
contracting a new marriage when there is a subsisting marriage as it was
held in the case of Hyde V Hyde.
Right of Wife to use husband’s name. a marriage gives a wife the right to
use the husbands name if she so wishes but this is not obligatory, in
Fondale V Goldsmith, court held that while marriage confers to a right to

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 the wife to use her husbands name, she can not be forced to do so but if
she desires, she can use it without swearing a deed poll. Even after a
termination of the marriage the wife may keep her husband’s name and
the husband has no to restrain her from using it except in fraudulent
purposes as it was stated in the case of Cowley v Cowley.

2) Presumption of legitimacy of the children.

Any child born during the subsistence of marriage shall be presumed to
have been fathered by the husband however, this presumption can be
rebutted if one shows overwhelming evidence to the contrary i.e.
a. where the husband was temporarily or permanently important at the
time of conception.
b. absence of the husband for a reasonably longtime. In the case of
Prestone Jones V Prestone Jones 1956, the husband had not been
around for 360 days after a particular coitus, court held that the child
was not his legitimate child.
3) Conjugal rights/Consortium.
In Place V Scarle 1932, court held that both husband and wife have a right to
consortium and right to each other and each of them has a right against any
person who abuses that right without noble cause.
4) The right to maintenance
Under common law, the husband has a duty to maintain his wife. in the case of
Kintu V Kintu, divorce appeal No135 of 97, court held that the wife has a right to
occupy the matrimonial home and be provided with the necessaries of life.

N.B a minister shall not celebrate any marriage except in a building which
has been duly licensed by the Minister, or in such place as the Minister’s
license may direct. Remember; when a church changes its location, the new
premises have to be licensed all over again.
Also remember; you can seek permission from the Minister of Justice and
Constitutional Affairs to have your marriage conducted in open space, for
example in a gardens.

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In conclusion, church marriage is derived from divine laws and Christian
teachings from the bible however, it must be consistent with the supreme law
of the land for it to be recognized. Once undertaken, it carries legal effects right
to maintenance, conjugal rights and many others as illustrated above.

Reference
The constitution of Uganda 1995 as amended, Marriage Act cap 146, Case law, Bible.

END

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