Conclusion

The legal cases discussed in this chapter along with the presentation of two contrasting case studies have endeavoured to show the discriminatory appli­cation of law, when it comes to the formalities of marriage, and the need for law reform starting with an implementation of celebrant based system.

The celebrant based marriage system in Scotland is a simple mechanism by which many of those British Muslims who experienced difficult with their informal marriages in England and Wales would have received the legal recog­nition and hence financial relief upon divorce.

The law concerning non-marriage might change, by a decision of the Supreme Court, or law reform of the Marriage Act 1949. This author's PhD fieldwork study has shown the majority of nikah marriages take place in a pri­vate setting, usually the bride's home. In terms of providing a fresh approach to this issue, it will be shown the implementation of a celebrant based marriage system, similar to the system in Scotland, may be successful in removing the requirement for British Muslims to marry twice and in a particular marrying within an approved or registered building. By placing the responsibility of reg­istration on a celebrant and removing the need for the ceremony to follow a particular form, giving freedom of choice when it comes to the language the ceremony is conducted in, such measures would give the best platform for British Muslims to engage with the system and would lead to a reduction in the number of informal marriages, and the injustices suffered as a result.