The Matrimonial Home: Historic Origins of the Doctrine of Property Division and the Consequential Evolution in India and Abroad
Keywords:
Divorce settlements, government agency, matrimonial household, propertyAbstract
This paper examines the central role of matrimonial homes and the right to matrimonial homes and property; in the administration of Indian Law and abroad. This has historically occurred at three levels. First, from the Protection of Matrimonial Residence, under the Domestic Violence Act 2005 which provided independent relief to women, by providing for protective injunctions against violence, dispossession from the matrimonial home and alternate residence. Second, these protections were encapsulated under various acts like the Special Marriage Act 1954, the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 [Section 27] and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956 and the precedents under Banoo Jal Daruwalla V. Jal C. Daruwalla 1963 and Madhu Limaye vs the State of Maharashtra 1977. Third, the advancement of matrimonial home doctrine, in England and Wales, United States and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia and the Countries administered by Islamic Law. Among the central interests of matrimonial settlement laws was the ‘Need versus Contribution’ concept, in the division of property and this paper uses knowledge developed about matrimonial home to illustrate the way ‘equitable, not equal principles’ must be adopted in order to remedy the problem of poverty and destitution, among divorced Indian women.
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