Section 81 Matrimonial Causes Act 1970

Section 81 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1970 is about Recognition of other decrees. It provides as follows:

(1) A decree of dissolution or nullity of marriage made before the commencement of this Act by a court in Nigeria or made after the commencement of this Act by such a court in accordance with the transitional provisions of this Act shall be recognised as valid in all States of the Federation.

(2) A dissolution or annulment of a marriage effected in accordance with the law of a foreign country shall be recognised as valid in Nigeria where, at the date of the institution of the proceedings that resulted in the dissolution or annulment, the party at whose instance the dissolution or annulment was effected (or, if it was effected at the instance of both parties, either of those parties)-
(a) in the case of the dissolution of a marriage or the annulment of a voidable marriage, was domiciled in that foreign country; or

(b) in the case of the annulment of a void marriage, was domiciled or resident in that foreign country.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) of this section-
(a) where a dissolution of a marriage was effected in accordance with the law of a foreign country at the instance of a deserted wife who was domiciled in that foreign country either immediately before her marriage or immediately before the desertion, she shall be deemed to have been domiciled in that foreign country at the date of the institution of the proceedings that resulted in the dissolution; and

(b) a wife who, at the date of the institution of the proceedings that resulted in a dissolution or annulment of her marriage in accordance with the law of a foreign country, was resident in that foreign country and had been so resident for a period of three years immediately preceding that date shall be deemed to have been domiciled in that foreign country at that date.

(4) A dissolution or annulment of a marriage effected in accordance with the law of a foreign country, not being a dissolution or annulment to which subsection (2) of this section applies, shall be recognised as valid in Nigeria if its validity would have been recognised under the law of the foreign country in which, in the case of a dissolution, the parties were domiciled at the date of the dissolution or in which, in the case of an annulment, either party was domiciled at the date of the annulment.

(5) Any dissolution or annulment of a marriage that would be recognised as valid under the rules of private international law but to which none of the preceding provisions of this section applies shall be recognized as valid in Nigeria, and the operation of this subsection shall not be limited by any implication from those provisions.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a court in Nigeria, in considering the validity of a dissolution or annulment effected under the law of a foreign country, may treat as proved any facts found by a court of the foreign country or otherwise established for the purposes of the law of the foreign country.

(7) A dissolution or annulment of a marriage shall not be recognised as valid by virtue of subsection (2) or (4) of this section where, under the rules of private international law, recognition of its validity would be refused on the ground that a party to the marriage had been denied natural justice or that the dissolution or annulment had been obtained by fraud.

(8) Subsections (2) to (7) of this section shall apply in relation to dissolutions and annulments effected, whether by decree legislation or otherwise, before or after the commencement of this Act.

(9) In this section, “foreign country” means a country, or part of a country, outside the Federation.

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