Her Majesty's Attorney General - v - Akhter & Ors.

This brief considers the February 2020 judgment of the Court of Appeal of England & Wales in Akhter - v - Khan, an appeal brought by the Attorney General against the decision at first-instance to grant the petitioner wife, Akhter, a decree nisi, or provisional decree of divorce. The decision of the Court of Appeal was against the backdrop of the Law Commission holding a public consultation into the status at law of certain 'religious-only' marriages (including Islamic weddings) and whether, absent a contemporaneous or succeeding civil marriage, they are to be regarded as void (entitling petitioners to ancillary relief, such as spousal support) or 'non-marriages'.