The Druid Network

TDN has received a follow up email from the Law Commission in relation to an earlier scoping report into possible marriage law reform in England and Wales.

Thank you for your interest in the Law Commission’s work on potential reform of weddings law. We recommended in December 2015 following a scoping study that the law was in need of comprehensive reform and set out what a full review of the area would comprise. During our scoping work and our consultation on the Commission’s next work programme we received widespread support for a comprehensive reform project.

 

The Law Commission’s protocol with Government stipulates that we can only take forward a reform project where a Government department supports that work and indicates a serious intention to take forward law reform. We have been informed that the responsible department – the Ministry of Justice, who asked us to undertake our scoping work – does not currently support a full review. The responsible Minister indicated that priority was being given to reforms to address the increase in public and private family law cases currently putting pressure on the justice system. The Minister has not ruled out the option of further Law Commission work in this area in the future and is keeping the situation under review. A copy of the Minister’s letter can be found at www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/marriage-law/.

 

We recognise the Government’s desire to focus immediate attention on operational issues affecting the family justice system. However, we believe that reform has the potential to provide greater flexibility, allow all couples to marry in a way that is meaningful for them, avoid inefficiencies and bring the law up to date. We do not believe that the need for reform will go away, and hope that we can continue our work in this area in the future.