W. (C.) v C

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 17 February 1989
• Date: 17 February 1989
• Docket Number: [1987 No. 36M]
• Court: High Court

W. (C.) v. C.

W. (other vise C.)

Petitioner

and

C.

Respondent

[1987 No. 36M]

High Court

Husband and wife - Marriage - Nullity - Consent - Duress - Capacity to marry - Wife's petition - Pregnant at time of marriage - Adverse effect on teaching career - Married to resume profession and resume place in society - Respondent suffering from personality disorder - Whether the petitioner's consent to the marriage was a true consent - Whether the respondent was suffering from a personality disorder at the time of the marriage which made him incapable of forming a proper marriage relationship.

The petitioner met the respondent in 1974 when she was 22 years of age. Their relationship was uneasy and involved an imposition of the respondent's will over the petitioner's. He consistently insulted her and although she attempted to break off the relationship on several occasions was not successful. The respondent had sexual intercourse with her against her will in 1975 and she became pregnant. Her parents' attitude was that she would have to marry the respondent. The principal of the school where she was employed as a teacher informed her that she could not stay on in her job as an unmarried mother.

The petitioner was unable to think beyond her pregnancy and the fact that she believed she had lost respect and she felt that unless she married she could not recover her self-respect or work again in her profession. The respondent agreed to marry her and the marriage duly took place. The respondent was cruel, sadistic and repulsive in sexual matters and the relationship failed. The petitioner left the respondent in 1977.

The petitioner sought a decree of nullity on the ground that there had been no valid consent to the marriage and on the ground that the respondent was unable, by reason of his personality disorder, to sustain a proper marriage relationship. A psychiatrist who had seen the respondent professionally gave evidence of his opinion that the respondent suffered from a gross personality disorder which had predated his marriage and of his opinion that the respondent was unable to form a meaningful relationship with any marriage partner.

Held by Barron J., in granting the petition, 1, that there had been no valid consent by the petitioner to the marriage because the strain of her circumstances had made her unable to see further than her pregnancy, there had been no element in her decision of a wish to set up a matrimonial home with the respondent and she had married him in order to resume her profession and her place in society.

Szetchter v. Szechter [1977] P. 286 and H. v. H.[1954] P. 258 applied.

2. That the respondent had been suffering from a gross personality disorder at the date of the marriage which made him incapable of forming a proper marriage relationship.

Cases mentioned in this report:—

Szechter v. Szechter [1971] P. 286; [1971] 2 W.L.R. 170; [1970] 3 All E.R. 905.

H. v. H. [1954] P. 258; [1953] 3 W.L.R. 849; [1953] 2 All E.R. 1229; 97 S.J. 782.

Matrimonial Petition.

By petition dated the 22nd October, 1987, the petitioner...