Same-Sex Marriage in India and Private International Law​​

Rakshita Data
NMIMS, Kirit P. Kehta School of Law, India

Volume IV, Issue I, 2021

“It is true that each nation has its own tradition which in the field of family law, governs inter-personal ties. Nevertheless, in order to discourage platform shopping and thereby prevent limping relationships, there is a need for the unification and codification of codes of conflict of laws pertaining to matrimonial matters. The rule of law and gender equity provisions, on the one hand, and the need to uphold the universal human rights of parties to the marriage, on the other, both include internationally agreed principles to comply with inter-personal and inter-national conflicts.”[1]

“In this article, I try to provide an outline of the laws of private international law relating to same-sex couples (marriages and partnerships) in various countries in order to analyze whether there is a consensus between the countries involved, what the issues resulting from the absence of consensus are and how they can better be handled.”

“If one discusses the present position of the rule, it becomes obvious that a few similar points stand out after this development, although major variations remain. Whereas the prospect of registering partnerships other than marriage has been established by a vast number of nations, not all have done so. Some nations expressed aversion to the proposal; others showed strong resistance, often even absolute denial. “The diversity is apparent among the countries that have developed ‘partnerships’ and other new ways of relationships, with some countries providing a similar copy of a marriage, while others have opted for a less desirable regime. Finally, a couple of countries have opened up the prospect of homogenous couples getting together.”[2]

[1] Tandon, Usha, Validity of Marriage Under International Private Law with Special Reference to 1978 Hague Marriage Convention: Towards Harmonization and Unification of the Rules of International Private Law Relating to Marriage (September 23, 2013). I JCLC (2013) 32-47 ISSN: 2321-4716, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ss rn.2821514

[2] Ibid

DOI: http://doi.one/10.1732/IJLMH.25498