A man's claim that his second marriage was based on his own deceit and fraudulent statements was upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday.
He had already been married but got an American divorce which is not recognised by the Irish courts.
The case went to the Supreme Court by way of request from a Circuit Court judge. He asked the Supreme Court's opinion on proceedings brought by the spouse of the second marriage who was seeking a judicial separation and ancillary reliefs.
The man had filed a defence and counterclaim in which he sought a declaration that he was never married to the second woman because of a prior valid marriage.
It was held by the Supreme Court that the man was not barred from denying he was married to the second woman. But Mr Justice Murray said the Circuit Court judge still had to make a final decision, and it was for that judge to consider if there were grounds for directing that the case be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Mr Justice Murray also found that, based on the Circuit Court judge's findings, the second woman might have an action for damages or compensation.
The man married first in 1968. There was one child and, in 1972, the marriage having failed, he moved to Dublin. The wife, a schoolteacher, did not appear to have looked for maintenance and survived by her own means.
In 1979 he met the second woman. He subsequently went on a course of his firm to the US where a lawyer told him he could get a divorce without difficulty. Documents were prepared, based on incorrect information relating to an address and residence and time spent in Ohio. The divorce was easily secured.
The first woman indicated at the Circuit Court hearing that she had been notified of the application for the Ohio divorce and ignored it as affairs with her husband had long been settled. The second woman had sought the divorce documents before marrying the man, and it seemed to her that a judge "of capable authority" was satisfied with all the legal requirements and granted the divorce.
The couple married in a Dublin registry office in 1983. The application to the registrar was on the basis that the man was a bachelor. The couple stayed together as man and wife for 17 years and had two children. They continue to reside in the same house with the children, pending a decision in the family law proceedings.
Ms Justice Denham, in her judgment, said it was accepted the Ohio divorce would not be recognised here in 1982 or now. The consequence was that the purported marriage in 1983 was also invalid. In 1975 the Supreme Court had held the Irish courts did not recognise a decree of dissolution of marriage granted in divorce proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction when the parties were not domiciled in the foreign jurisdiction at that time.
All reliefs sought by the second woman were predicated on the fact that she was a spouse. Under our Constitution, she was not. The man was not barred from bringing evidence of his divorce in Ohio.
Mr Justice Murray said that the man, on his own admission, knowingly deceived the Ohio court and the second woman.
The case now goes back to the Circuit Court for a final decision.