Re SA (Vulnerable Adult with Capacity: Marriage) ([2006] 1 FLR 867)

VULNERABLE ADULTS: THE INHERENT JURISDICTION AND THE RIGHT TO MARRY Ms SA was an eighteen year-old deaf and mute young woman. She had minimal sight in one eye, the intellectual capacity of an early teenager, and the reading age of a seven year-old. Her family (mother, father and three brothers) came from a Pakistani Muslim background; they spoke primarily Urdu and Punjabi. Ms SA was neither able to lip-read nor understand either of these languages; her only means of communication was through British Sign Language (BSL) which she had learned in a specialist educational unit for deaf children. None of her family had learned BSL; thus, communication between Ms SA and her family was very limited. Her family wished to arrange, or possibly even force her into, a marriage in Pakistan. She was happy to have an arranged marriage but wanted the right to veto any potential husband.