Failure of Consent - Insanity
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The formalities of marriage involve declarations of consent by both parties, and (even if the officiant were to go ahead) in the absence of such declarations the marriage is void. Apparent consent may not be real consent, however, if it is the result of insanity, duress (which does not necessarily have the same meaning as in criminal law or contract) or a mistake as to the identity of the other or the nature of the ceremony.
Durham v Durham (1885) 10 PD 80, Hannen P
The Earl of Durham sought a decree of nullity, and claimed his wife had not had the mental capacity needed for marriage. The judge said the contract of marriage is a very simple one, which does not require a high degree of intelligence to comprehend. But a person who understands the language of the ceremony may still be affected by delusions or other insanity so as to have no real appreciation of its significance. (On the facts, P's petition was dismissed: the judge decided R had had sufficient capacity at the time of the marriage, though her condition had deteriorated later.)
Re Park [1953] 2 All ER 1411, CA
A retired businessman D, whose physical and mental health were poor, married at the age of 78 and died two weeks later. On the day of his marriage he made a new will, superseding a previous will executed a year earlier. The executors sought to prove the second will, but the jury found as fact that on that day D was not of sound mind, memory and understanding. D's widow then brought an action to establish the validity of the marriage and the consequent invalidity of the earlier will, under which most of D's estate would have gone to other relatives. The Court of Appeal, affirming Karminski J, said the marriage was valid and revoked the earlier will, so that D had died intestate. The test is whether a party to marriage was capable of understanding the nature of the contract into which he or she was entering, and that it involves the duties and responsibilities normally attaching to marriage. An illiterate man might be able to understand the contract of marriage in its simplicity, but coming into a sudden accession of wealth might be quite incapable of making anything in the nature of a complicated will.
