African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act 51 of 1931

LAWS OF KENYA
AFRICAN CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ACT
CHAPTER 151
Revised Edition 2012 [2010]

Published by the National Council for Law Reporting
with the Authority of the Attorney-General
www.kenyalaw.org
[Rev. 2012] CAP. 151
African Christian Marriage and Divorce
CHAPTER 151

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Application.
4. Saving.
5. Marriage may be in any place of public worship.
6. Marriages to be performed only by licensed ministers.
7. Formalities.
8. Consents.
9. Marriage before licensed minister or Registrar.
10. Marriage certificate.
11. Ministers to be Registrars.
12. Fees.
13. Status of African Christian widows.
14. Jurisdiction of subordinate courts of the first class.
15. Appeals.
SCHEDULE –
FEES
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[Rev. 2012] CAP. 151
CHAPTER 151

[Date of commencement:17th December, 1931.]
An Act to provide for the marriage of African Christians and for the
dissolution of such marriages
[Act No. 51 of 1931, Cap. 99 of 1948, Act No. 44 of 1955, L.N. 299/1956, L.N. 172/1960,
L.N. 462/1963, L.N. 2/1964, Act No. 21 of 1966, Act No. 9 of 1967, Act No. 7 of 1975.]
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act.
2. Interpretation
In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—
“licensed minister” means a minister who has been licensed to celebrate
marriages under section 6 of this Act;
“registrar” includes a Registrar of marriages appointed under section 5 of
the Marriage Act (Cap. 150) and a Registrar appointed under section 11 of this
Act.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 2, L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
3. Application
(1) This Act shall apply only to the marriages of Africans one or both of whom
profess the Christian religion and to the dissolution of such marriages.
(2) Nothing herein contained shall prevent any African marrying under the
Marriage Act (Cap. 150), but if one or both parties to a marriage under that Act
are Africans professing the Christian religion the provisions of this Act relating to
dissolution of marriage shall apply to such marriage as if it were a marriage under
this Act.
[L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
4. Saving
Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of the Marriage Act
(Cap. 150) shall apply to all marriages celebrated under this Act.
[L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
5. Marriage may be in any place of public worship

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Marriage Act (Cap. 150), a
marriage may be celebrated under this Act in any place of public worship, whether
or not such place of worship is licensed under section 7 of the Marriage Act.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 3, L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
6. Marriages to be performed only by licensed ministers

(1) The Minister may licence any minister to celebrate marriages under this Act,
and may at any time cancel such licence; and notice of the granting or cancellation
of such licences shall be published in the Gazette.
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CAP. 151 [Rev. 2012]
(2) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Marriage Act (Cap.
150), no minister shall celebrate any marriage under this Act unless licensed by
the Minister under subsection (1) of this section.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 3, L.N. 462/1963.]
7. Formalities
The formalities preliminary to marriage, established, usual or customary for
African Christians in the denomination to which one or both of the parties belong,
shall apply to marriages under this Act, and sections 8 to 18 inclusive of the
Marriage Act (Cap. 150) shall not apply, but no minister shall celebrate any
marriage under this Act unless he considers that adequate notice has been given
of the intended marriage.
[L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
8. Consents
(1) Where the consent of any person to the intended marriage is necessary, the
minister to celebrate the intended marriage shall be deemed to be a Registrar of
marriages for the purpose of such consent; and, if there be no parent or guardian
in any particular case capable of consenting, such minister upon being satisfied
after due inquiry that the marriage is a proper one may consent in writing to such
marriage.
(2) If any person whose consent is required refuses his consent, a magistrate
empowered to hold a subordinate court of the first class may, on application being
made, consent to the marriage, and the consent of the magistrate empowered to
hold a subordinate court of the first class so given shall have the same effect as if
it had been given by the person whose consent is so refused.
[L.N. 462/1963.]
9. Marriage before licensed minister or registrar

(1) Whenever any persons already married or professing to be married to each
other by native law and custom desire to convert that marriage into a marriage by
which they are legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both shall
live, they may, subject to the provisions of sections 7 and 8 of this Act contract a
marriage before a licensed minister in a place of worship or before a Registrar in his
office, in either case in the presence of two witnesses, with open doors, between
the hours of 6 o’clock in the forenoon and 6 o’clock in the afternoon and in the
following manner.
(2) The licensed minister or the Registrar shall, either directly or through an
interpreter, address the parties thus—
“Do I understand that you, A.B., and you, C.D., have been heretofore married
to each other by native law or custom, and that you come here for the purpose of
binding yourselves legally to each other as man and wife so long as both of you
shall live?”
(3) If the parties answer in the affirmative he shall proceed thus—
“Whereas you, A.B., and you, C.D., profess that you have been heretofore
married to each other by native law or custom, and whereas that marriage does
not bind you by law to each other as man and wife so long as both of you shall
live, and whereas you
[Issue 1] A3 - 6
[Rev. 2012] CAP. 151
desire to bind yourselves legally each to the other as man and wife so long as both
of you shall live: know ye that by the public taking of each other as man and wife so
long as both of you shall live, in my presence and in the presence of the persons
now here. and by the subsequent attestation thereof by signing your names to that
effect, you become legally bound to each other as man and wife so long as both
of you shall live although no other rite of a civil or religious nature shall now take
place, and that hereafter your marriage cannot be dissolved during your lifetime,
except by a valid judgment of divorce; and if either of you before the death of the
other shall illegally contract another marriage while your marriage to each other
remains undissolved, you will be thereby guilty of bigamy, and liable to punishment
for that offence.”
(4) Each of the parties shall then say to the other—
“I call upon all persons here present to witness that I, A.B., do take thee, C.D.,
to be my lawful wife (or husband) so long as both of us shall live.”
(5) A licensed minister (whether or not he has been appointed a Registrar under
section 11 of this Act) may in his absolute discretion refuse to witness a contract
of marriage under this section.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 4.]
10. Marriage certificate

(1) The Minister may prescribe the forms of marriage certificates for marriages
celebrated under this Act.
(2) The Registrar-General shall cause to be printed, and to be issued to each
licensed minister and to each Registrar, books of marriage certificates in such form
as may be prescribed.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 5, L.N. 299/1956, L.N. 172/1960, L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
11. Ministers to be registrars

(1) For the purposes of this Act, the Minister may appoint ministers to be
Registrars; and they shall be deemed to be Registrars of marriages within the
meaning of the Marriage Act, except that it shall not be necessary for them to
transmit to the Registrar-General a certified copy of the entries made by them in
any marriage register book more than once in three months.
(2) The Registrar-General may instruct a licensed minister to send any
duplicate marriage certificate required by him to be transmitted to a Registrar
of marriages under section 28 of the Marriage Act (Cap. 150) to any Registrar
appointed under subsection (1) of this section; and if so instructed the licensed
minister shall send the duplicate marriage certificate to such Registrar instead of
to the Registrar of marriages appointed under section 5 of the said Act for the
district in which the marriage takes place, but in default of any such instruction the
licensed minister shall send the duplicate marriage certificate to the Registrar of
marriages appointed under section 5 of the said Act for the district in which the
marriage takes place.
[Act No. 44 of 1955, s. 6, L.N. 462/1963, L.N. 2/1964, s. 2, Act No. 21 of 1966, First Sch.]
A3 - 7 [Issue 1]
CAP. 151 [Rev. 2012]
12. Fees
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Marriage Act (Cap. 150), there shall
be chargeable in respect of marriages under this Act, the fees set out in the
Schedule to this Act.
[L.N. 2/1964, s. 2.]
13. Status of African Christian widows

(1) Any African woman married in accordance with the provisions of this Act or
of the Marriage Act (Cap. 150) or of the Native Christian Marriage Act (Cap. 168 of
1926 now repealed), whether before or after the commencement of this Act shall
be deemed to have attained her majority on widowhood, and shall not be bound to
cohabit with the brother or any other relative of her deceased husband or any other
person or to be at the disposal of such brother or other relative or other person,
but she shall have the same right to support for herself and her children of such
marriage from such brother or other relative as she would have had if she had not
been married as aforesaid.
(2) Any such woman shall upon the death of her husband become the guardian
of any children of the marriage, and shall, so long as she remains a Christian,
continue to be the guardian of such children until such children, if males, attain the
age of sixteen years, or, if females, attain the age of sixteen years or marry, and
shall be competent to dispose of such children in marriage, but in such event the
customary bride price shall on demand be paid to such person as is entitled thereto
by native law and custom.
14. Jurisdiction of subordinate courts of the first class
Subordinate courts of the first class shall have the same jurisdiction, in the
case of marriages solemnised or contracted under this Act or the Native Christian
Marriage Act (Cap. 168 of 1926 now repealed), as is vested in the High Court by
virtue of the Matrimonial Causes Act (Cap. 152).
15. Appeals
An appeal shall lie from the decrees or from any part of the decrees, and from
the orders, of subordinate courts under section 14 of this Act to the High Court.
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[Rev. 2012] CAP. 151
SCHEDULE
FEES
[Section 12, Act No. 7 of 1975, Sch]
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[Rev. 2012] CAP. 151
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LAWS OF KENYA

AFRICAN CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ACT

Revised Edition 2012 [2010]

AFRICAN CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ACT

AFRICAN CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE ACT

5. Marriage may be in any place of public worship

6. Marriages to be performed only by licensed ministers

9. Marriage before licensed minister or registrar

10. Marriage certificate

11. Ministers to be registrars

13. Status of African Christian widows

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