Commonwealth Numbered Acts

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FAMILY LAW ACT 1975 No. 53 of 1975 - SECT 51

Nullity of marriage.
51. (1) An application under this Act for a decree of nullity of marriage
shall be based on the ground that the marriage is void.

(2) A marriage that takes place after the commencement of this Act is void
where-

   (a)  either of the parties is, at the time of the marriage, lawfully
        married to some other person;

   (b)  the parties are within a prohibited relationship;

   (c)  the marriage is not a valid marriage under the law of the place where
        the marriage takes place, by reason of a failure to comply with the
        requirements of the law of that place with respect to the form of
        solemnization of marriages;

   (d)  the consent thereto of either of the parties is not a real consent
        because-

        (i)    it was obtained by duress or fraud;

        (ii)   that party is mistaken as to the identity of the other party or
               as to the nature of the ceremony performed; or

        (iii)  that party is mentally incapable of understanding the nature
               and effect of the marriage ceremony; or

   (e)  either of the parties is not of marriageable age, and not otherwise.

(3) Marriages that are within a prohibited relationship are marriages-

   (a)  between a person and an ancestor or descendant of the person; or

   (b)  between a brother and a sister (whether of the whole blood or the
        half-blood).

(4) Any relationship specified in sub-section (3) includes a relationship
traced through, or to, a person who is or was an adopted child, and, for that
purpose, the relationship between an adopted child and his adoptive parent, or
each of his adoptive parents, shall be deemed to be or to have been the
natural relationship of child and parent.

(5) Nothing in sub-section (4) makes it lawful for a person to marry a person
whom the first-mentioned person could not lawfully have married if that
sub-section had not been enacted.

(6) For the purposes of this section-

   (a)  a person who has at any time been adopted by another person shall be
        deemed to remain the adopted child of that other person
        notwithstanding that any order by which the adoption was effected has
        been annulled, cancelled or discharged or that the adoption has for
        any other reason ceased to be effective; and

   (b)  a person who has been adopted on more than one occasion shall be
        deemed to be the adopted child of each person by whom he has been
        adopted.

(7) Paragraph (2) (c) does not apply in relation to a marriage solemnized
under Part V of the Marriage Act 1961 or of that Act as amended or to any
other marriage recognized in Australia by virtue of that Act or regulations
made under that Act. 


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