Forced Marriage Act

The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act received Royal Assent on 26 July 2007. Where a forced marriage has or is about to take place, courts will be able to make orders to protect the victim or the potential victim and help remove them from that situation. The courts will have a wide discretion in the type of injunctions they will be able to make to enable them to respond effectively to the individual circumstances of the case and prevent or pre-empt forced marriages from occurring. Courts will be able to attach powers of arrest to orders so that if someone breaches an order they can be arrested and brought back to the original court to consider the alleged breach. The Act can be viewed at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/20070020.htm. For more information see September [2007] Fam Law. See also Legislation below.