Chapter 2 Questions

1. Instead of enabling mixed-sex couples to register a civil partnership, should Parliament have done either of the following:

a) close civil partnership to all new entrants, leaving both same-sex and mixed-sex couples with the simple option to marry?

b) abolish both marriage and civil partnership as legal concepts and replace both with a gender neutral institution of “civil union”?

2. Should any or all couples be entitled to convert their marriage to a civil partnership, and vice versa, indefinitely rather than just during a short window of time (as the Government has proposed)?

3.  Does the law of marriage adequately accommodate the practices of minority ethnic and religious communities in England and Wales?

4.  Should the grounds on which a mixed-sex marriage can be avoided for want of consummation be abolished?

5.  What difficulties can you envisage in providing statutory rights and duties for parties to relationships that have not been formalized and registered with the state?

6. Should Parliament provide a means whereby platonic friends and blood relatives (potentially more than two people) could register their relationships and acquire a legal status analogous to civil partnership?