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30 Liverpool L. Rev. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr30 and id is 1 raw text is: Liverpool Law Rev (2009) 30:1-12 DOI 10.1007/s10991-009-9053-1 Abolishing Marriage: Can Civil Partnership Cover it? Sarah Beresford - Caroline Falkus Published online: 12 May 2009 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract This paper argues that all adult intimate relationships should be regu- lated under one single statute. This statute should be the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (which currently applies to same sex couples). The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (which applies to opposite sex couples), should be repealed; it should not be amended to include same sex couples. There would, as a consequence, be no such thing as (legal) marriage. Marriage as a legal construct is a heterosexual and patriarchal institution and is therefore so fundamentally flawed it is beyond the possibility of successful reform or repair. The present system of having two distinct legal means of relationship recognition is akin to sexual apartheid and is therefore unsustainable in the long term. Having a legal system which recognises only one form of legal partnership would therefore formally end a discriminatory system. Despite its drawbacks, Civil Partnership does not have the same extent of symbolic and practical degree of flaws as Marriage. Keywords Civil partnership - Marriage - Opposite sex - Same sex Introductory Comments This paper argues that the legal concept of marriage should be abolished, specifically, that the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 should be repealed and that the Civil Partnership Act 2004 be amended to extend to opposite sex couples. Instead, all adult intimate relationships should instead be regulated through a single model, S. Beresford Law School, University of Lancaster, London, UK e-mail: s.beresford@lancaster.ac.uk C. Falkus (E) Bross Bennett Family Law Solicitors, London, UK e-mail: cf@brossbennett.co.uk I Springer