Validity of Foreign Divorces.—When the validity of a foreign divorce is considered by the Canadian courts the judges apply the strict rule of refusing to recognize a decree of divorce pronounced by a court within whose jurisdiction the parties had not a bona fide domicile.
The courts also hold that a marriage celebrated in Canada between persons domiciled there is in its nature indissoluble except by death or by the act or decree of the Dominion Parliament, or a Canadian court of competent jurisdiction, and that no judgment of a foreign court dissolving such a marriage will be recognized in Canada.
This rule invites, and has received, such severe criticism for its injustice that it cannot long be maintained by such tribunals of learning and integrity as the courts of Canada.
Suppose a Canadian man and woman domiciled in Toronto should intermarry there, and afterwards acquire a joint domicile of twenty years’ duration in New York City. If, after that period, the wife should obtain in the courts of the State of New York a divorce on the grounds of her husband’s adultery, and should remarry another man, upon her return to Canada it would be manifestly unjust to treat the divorce and second marriage as null and void.
Some of these days the Canadian courts will be called upon to consider the legal effect of a divorce obtained upon statutory grounds in England in a suit between two persons who were married in Canada and at the time of such marriage were domiciled in that country. Perhaps then the rule we have mentioned and criticised will be relaxed.
The Island and Colony of Newfoundland, although a British colony in North America, is not yet incorporated as a part of the Dominion of Canada. It has its own governor, legislature and judicial system entirely separate from the Dominion and its own marriage and divorce law.
The jurisdiction of Newfoundland extends not only over the island by that name, but also over the whole of the Atlantic coast of Labrador.
Age Requirements.—The legal age for marriage in British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland is fourteen for a male and twelve for a female. In Ontario both males and females must be at least fourteen years of age.
Parental Consent.—In British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland parental consent is necessary for both males and females under twenty-one years of age.
In New Brunswick and Ontario parental consent is required for males and females under eighteen years of age.