The High Court has refused two applicants’ challenge to a registrar’s decision not to proceed with their proposed marriage in Ireland while the legal status of an earlier Islamic marriage remained unclear.
Mr Justice Meenan ruled on 11 May 2018 that the applicants had brought their judicial review out of time, but extended the time limit. He also found the case was not moot. The court ultimately refused all the relief sought.
The applicants had held an Islamic marriage ceremony in Manchester on 8 February 2015. They did not register that marriage in the United Kingdom. After moving to Ireland, they applied to marry here. The registrar initially sought documents including letters confirming each applicant was free to marry.
At an interview in August 2016, the applicants provided their Islamic marriage certificate. The registrar then said the proposed marriage could not proceed because the status of the earlier marriage in Ireland was unclear. In later correspondence, the registrar said the applicants could seek a declaration under section 29 of the Family Law Act 1995 to resolve the uncertainty.
The applicants argued that a religious marriage was distinct from a civil marriage and should not prevent them from marrying. They sought orders quashing the registrar’s decisions and declarations concerning the processing of their application and their entitlement to proceed.
The court held that time began to run from the registrar’s letter of 16 September 2016, which stated that the proposed marriage could not take place. Although the judicial review was late, the judge considered the personal right to marry, the short period of delay and the circumstances of the case, and extended time.
The judge rejected the respondents’ argument that the case was moot. One applicant had returned to Pakistan and would need a visa to travel to Ireland, but the court could not assume that a marriage visa application would be refused.
On the substance, the court found that the Civil Registration Act 2004 required the applicants to declare that no impediment existed, and that the registrar had to be satisfied this requirement was met before completing a marriage registration form. The Islamic marriage certificate raised uncertainty about whether either applicant was already married under the law of England and Wales; the registrar also lacked information about the marriage’s status in Pakistan.
The judge held that the section 29 declaration had been suggested as a way to address that uncertainty, not imposed as a legal condition. He also rejected the argument that the registrar should complete the form and rely on other statutory procedures. The applicants’ requested relief was refused; the judgment did not determine the legal status of the Islamic marriage itself.