Case Number

HCJ 143/62

Date Decided

2-22-1963

Decision Type

Original

Document Type

Full Opinion

Abstract

The Petitioner, a Christian woman and Belgian national, married Mr. Israel Schlesinger, a Jewish citizen of Israel, in Nicosia, Cyprus, in a civil ceremony in December 1961, as shown by a copy of the marriage register, confirmed by the Cyprus Minister of Interior. The Belgian Consul General in Limassol entered the Petitioner’s marriage in her Belgian passport. The registration in the personal status register of the Belgian Embassy testifies to her marriage in Nicosia in reliance upon the marriage certificate issued to her by the district officer there and on the said entry in her passport. Several days after the said marriage ceremony, the Petitioner arrived in Israel as a tourist. Her request to be granted a visa for permanent residency was denied. After submitting a request to the Inhabitants Registry for a certificate of identity, she was told she could not be granted a certificate of identity showing her as married, an accordingly, the name “Schlesinger” would not appear. An order nisi was issued against the Minister of Interior. In his response, the Respondent granted the Petitioner’s request for permanent residency, but maintained his refusal to register her as married, arguing that the Petitioner and Mr. Schlesinger are not a married couple in accordance with the applicable personal status laws.

The Supreme Court, by a majority, made the order nisi absolute, holding:

  1. The complex issue of the validity of the Petitioner’s marriage under the applicable law should not have been raised in the context of her registration in the Inhabitants Registry.

  1. (1) The role of the registration officer under the Registration of Inhabitants Ordinance, 5709-1949, is merely that of a collector of statistics for the purposes of administering the Register of Inhabitants, and he holds no judicial authority.

(2) The above officer’s considerations are strictly administrative and he is not charged with implementing religious instructions.

c. (1) According to the instructions given to registration officer by the Minister of Interior, a citizen who appears before an administrative authority is presumed to be speaking the truth.

(2) Having been presented with prima facie evidence, the officer must suffice with this evidence, because – being an administrative authority – he must not intrude into an area that is not his own in order to determine a legal dispute. Should he not wish to become the arbiter, he must register the details as presented by the requesting party, even if it is not convinced of their correctness.

  1. The above Ordinance does not confer upon registration in the Register of Inhabitants the force of evidence or proof of anything. The information in it may or may not be true, and no one vouches for its correctness.

  1. For the purposes of registering the family status of the Petitioner in the Register of Inhabitants, the marriage ceremony is conclusive, and prima facie evidence is sufficient to prove it. Examination of the marriage’s validity is not a matter for the registration officer. It is presumed that the Legislature did not task a public agency with a duty it is unable to fulfill.

f. (1) The instructions that order the registration officer to pass on a matter of interfaith marriage to the “determination of the department” are unfounded as there is nothing for the department to determine.

(2). The validity or invalidity of an interfaith marriage is an extremely weighty matter, and when a couple askes to register under the above Ordinance, it cannot be said how the issue may ultimately be determined. The registration officer cannot speculate as to which court may address the matter, how the President of the Supreme Court may exercise his authority under art. 55 of the Palestine Order-in-Council 1922, and cannot predict whether the validity of the marriage will be recognized.

(3) As long as the Petitioner’s marriage has not been invalidated in a judicial proceeding, she is deemed a married woman for the purposes of the Inhabitants Registry.

Keywords

Family Law -- Marriage, Jewish Law -- Family Law

Download

Included in

Family Law Commons

Share

COinS