Family Law

in trying to discover the main stages of contracting a marriage in both Statury and customary marriages and how they compare in to each other considering similarities and differences it shall be necessary to define what a martiage is and what a statutry and customary marriage is.

svereal bodies and persons have lanoired to provide a suiting definition to what marriage might be. one such defination can be given from the case of sowa v sowa.

"the volunyary union for life of one ,an and one woman to the exclusion of others. the cjristian concept is not a religous one but a monogonomous concept of marriage and the courts of matrimonial jurisdiction would therefore not dissolve or annaul marriages they are monogomous unions within the english meaning."

2.0 statutory marriage

a statutory marriage is also known as a civil marriage. this is a marriage system so recognised strictly by statute. a statutory marriage is one which syrictly excludes all others from the marriage. a statutory marriage is one which does not allow or makes a any provsions for polygamy. a statutory marriage ine which has the explicit feature of voluntariness, the parties entering into the marriage have yo enter into such a contract with complete voluntariness.

3.0 customary marriage

the za,bian marriage act also recognises customary marriages. a customary martiage co,es aboit as a result of the beliefs norms values of a certain grouping of people. the is very applicable to zambian tribal groupings. a grouping determines how a marriage is solemized. in a customary marriage polygamy is a potent possibilty which is a sharp variance with statutory marriages. the peopke v chitambala is a landmark case in as far polygamy is concerned. consent in a customary marriage is also a key feature, the parties to a marriage may not have consent wholly bestowed on them, parens of the paryies to the marriage may give or rescind consent hence blocking the marriage, parents of the same may also forcibly give...