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Legislation
The key piece of domestic English and Welsh legislation addressing this topic is the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. This will be amended by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, anticipated to enter into force in 2022. As with all legislation, we recommend that you avoid legislation.gov.uk, and instead refer to a subscription database such a Lexis or Westlaw. This will ensure that you are working with an up-to-date version.
Television and radio documentaries
You may have access to a resource called Box of Broadcasts via your college or university. This is provided by the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council and gives on demand access to many television and radio programmes going back years, for educational purposes. Some programmes also include transcripts. There are many documentaries available. These include:
Revealed: Surviving Their Divorce (BBC2, 2010)
Owens v Owens [2017] EWCA Civ 182 and [2018] UKSC
New leading case on divorce, involving a rare defended divorce on the fact of the husband’s behaviour. Has led to calls for law reform. The CA judgment is more illuminating than that of the Supreme Court.
Office of National Statistics, Statistical Bulletin: Divorces in England and Wales
Annual bulletins which track dissolutions/divorces and annulments of marriage by previous marital status, sex, age, fact proven and to whom granted.
Law Commission response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Putting Asunder report (which is sadly not available online). This led directly to the Divorce Law Reform Act 1969.
Law Commission, Family Law: The Ground for Divorce (Law Com No. 192, 1990)
Influential critique of the law on divorce under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. Extremely useful for criticisms of fault-based divorce.
David Norgrove, Family Justice Review: Final Report (2011)
Wide ranging report into the family justice system, including online divorces.
Baroness Hale, Speech to the Resolution Annual Conference (20 April 2018)
Baroness Hale has been a long-time advocate of no-fault divorce. In this speech she identifies why no-fault divorce should be introduced. As usual, a very clear summary of the issues.
Liz Trinder et al., Finding Fault: Divorce Law in Practice in England and Wales (2017/2018)
Nuffield Foundation funded study into fault-based divorces, based on analysis of actual court files. Includes separate report into defended divorces. An excellent source of empirical evidence to inform debate on law reform.
Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 Fact Sheet
The government has provided a summary of the changes to divorce, including the removal of fault, following the entry into force of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020.