Page:Divorce Act 1979.djvu/6

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Act No. 70, 1979

Divorce Act, 1979.

(4) Any person who in contravention of this section publishes any particulars or information shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand rand or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

Recognition of certain foreign divorce orders.

13. (1) The validity of a decree of divorce granted in a country or territory in which the husband was not domiciled at the time of the granting of the decree shall be recognized by a court in the Republic if that country or territory has been designated by the State President by proclamation in the Gazette for the purposes of the recognition of such decrees.

(2) The State President may designate a country or territory for the purposes of subsection (1) if he is satisfied that the law of that country or territory provides for the exercise of jurisdiction which substantially corresponds to the jurisdiction referred to in section 2 (1) (b) (ii) and (iii).

(3) No proclamation shall be issued in terms of this section unless the State President is satisfied that the law of the country or territory concerned makes sufficient provision for the recognition by the courts of that country or territory of a decree of divorce granted in the Republic in terms of a jurisdiction under section 2 (1) (b) (ii) or (iii).

(4) A proclamation issued in terms of this section may be withdrawn at any time.

Abolition of orders for restitution of conjugal rights and judicial separation.

14. It shall not be competent for a court to issue an order for the restitution of conjugal rights or for judicial separation.

Application of Act.

15. This Act shall not apply with reference to a divorce action or proceedings for the restitution of conjugal rights or for judicial separation instituted before the commencement of this Act.

Amendment of section 5 of Act 37 of 1953, as amended by section 2 of Act 13 of 1966.

16. Section 5 of the Matrimonial Affairs Act, 1953, is hereby amended—

(a)

by the substitution for subsection (1) of the following subsection:

"(1) Any provincial or local division of the Supreme Court or any judge thereof may, on the application of either parent of a minor whose parents are divorced or are living apart, in regard to the custody or guardianship of, or access to, the minor, make any order which it may deem fit, and may in particular, if in its opinion it would be in the interests of such minor to do so, grant to either parent the sole guardianship (which shall include the power to consent to the marriage of the child) or the sole custody of the minor, and the court may order that, on the predecease of the parent to whom the sole guardianship of the minor is granted, a person other than the surviving parent shall be the guardian of the mirror, either jointly with or to the exclusion of the surviving parent.";

(b)

by the substitution for subsection (2) of the following subsection:

"(2) An order under subsection (1) in regard to a minor whose parents are living apart shall, if the parents become reconciled and live together again as husband and wife, lapse with effect from the date on which the parents commence to live together again.";

(c)

by the substitution for subsection (3) of the following subsection:

"(3) Subject to any order of court—

(a)

a parent to whom the sole guardianship or custody of a minor has been granted under subsection (1) or the Divorce Act, 1979, or a father or a mother upon