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The Marriage Act, 1961 (Act No. 25 of 1961) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa governing the solemnisation and registration of marriages in South Africa.It does not deal with the dissolution of marriages, which is governed by the Divorce Act, 1979, or with matrimonial property regimes and the financial consequences of marriage, which are governed by the Matrimonial Property Act, 1984.
It is currently the only country in the world to recognise both polygamy and same-sex marriages, albeit not in conjunction. South Africa outlawed marital rape in 1993. [4] According to the 2011 census, 36.7% of South Africans aged 20 or older were married. During the year 2011 a total of 173,215 new marriages were recorded.
Three laws currently provide for the status of marriage in South Africa. These are the Marriage Act (Act 25 of 1961), which provides for civil or religious opposite-sex marriages; the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act (Act 120 of 1998), which provides for the civil registration of marriages solemnised according to the traditions of indigenous groups; and the Civil Union Act (Act 17 of ...
Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since the Civil Union Act, 2006 came into force on 30 November 2006. The decision of the Constitutional Court in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie on 1 December 2005 extended the common-law definition of marriage to include same-sex spouses—as the Constitution of South Africa guarantees equal protection before the law to all ...
The Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998 (Act No. 120 of 1998) is a South African statute in terms of which marriages performed under African customary law, including polygynous marriages, are recognised as legal marriages. It also reformed the law relating to the legal status of women in customary marriages, the financial consequences ...
Act to prohibit marriages between white and black people, and to provide for matters incidental thereto. The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an apartheid -era law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following ...
Polygamy is legal under certain circumstances in South Africa. All polygamous marriages entered into in accordance with the provisions of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Actare legal. The husband in an existing customary marriage wishing to marry a second wife must apply to a competent court for such a marriage to be legal.
The 21st century has seen different conceptions about marriage: in 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage. [15] In South Africa, the practice of marriage by abduction, is known under the name of ukuthwala, and is the custom of abducting young girls and forcing them into marriage, often with the ...