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Law on Marriage - 1971 - Official Gazette No. 190, published 1971/08/08 (1350/05/17 A.P.)

LAW OF MARRIAGE

17 Asad 1350

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 1: A marriage proposed and accepted by willing parties should be made in the presence of witnesses in accordance with the provisions of the honorable Sharia (Islamic law). The wedding ceremony is invalid if it is done according to custom and tradition prior in the marriage contract.

ARTICLE 2: The marriage certificate is a document printed in the court for the benefit of the couple.

ARTICLE 3: The marriage of a bride and groom who have not reached the age of maturity, cannot be considered a XXXX marriage. The age of the groom is fixed by his identity card. For the age of the bride, the court will take into account the information given by the bride or her parents.

ARTICLE 4: A marriage certificate that is not arranged according to the provisions of this law is not valid.

ARTICLE 5: A marriage certificate which, like other documents, has the registration XXXX from the judicial offices shall be enforceable in the manner of other Sharia documents.

ARTICLE 6: The marriage of persons whose marriage proceeds in accordance with this law shall not be delayed on the demand of any person who does not have such a marriage certificate.

ARTICLE 7: If the marriage certificate appears on is proved to be a forgery, the marriage certificate is invalid and the personal witnesses, representatives and certifiers shall be subject to punishment.

ARTICLE 8: In case court officials contribute to the arrangement of a forged marriage certificate, in addition to the legal punishment, they will be dismissed from the government service.

CHAPTER TWO: ARRANGEMENT OF THE
MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE

ARTICLE 9: The arrangements and writing of the marriage certificate shall be done at a meeting held in the presence of the bride and groom or their representatives.

ARTICLE 10: A contract meeting held in urban areas shall be in the presence of the district director or the area agent, the imam of the masjed of the same district, and a relative of both sides, and outside of urban areas in the presence of the imam of the village masjed and a relative of both sides. In case a relative from both sides does not join, if the bride and groom agree, their marriage contract may be held in the presence of the court.

ARTICLE 11: The bride and groom or their representatives and their personal witnesses and reliable persons shall sign or seal the marriage contract at the meeting and persons who do not have a seal or cannot sign shall place their fingerprints.

ARTICLE 12: The judge, multi, or imam of the masjed must consider all the terms of the marriage contract and assure that all of the terms are written in the marriage certificate by themselves or by another person.

ARTICLE 13: The marriage and the writing of the marriage certificate are done in the presence of the meeting, if there are no objections to the marriage based on law of Sharis. The contents of this Article and Articles one and ten shall be printed in the marriage document and shall be read before holding the meeting for the marriage agreement.

ARTICLE 14: The bride’s mah’r* shall be fixed at the contract meeting and defined in the marriage document. If the mah’r is immovable goods, the four bounds of that mah’r shall be registered in the marriage document.

ARTICLE 15: No one, including the relatives of the bride, may, for the purpose of marriage, ask or receive under any title any cash or goods from the groom or his relatives. If such an act is done, those who commit it shall be pursued and punished according to the provisions of law. The wedding shall be with simple clothes of the country.

ARTICLE 16: Mah’r is the right of the bride and must be paid to her. The immediate and deferred mah’r must be defined in this marriage contract and according to the provisions of this law should be paid to the bride or her Sharia representative.

ARTICLE 17: After the marriage contract, the bride and bridegroom or their representatives shall acknowledge as well as the other documents and should be in duplicate. The mah’r which is specified in the marriage certificate is not subject to tax.

ARTICLE 18: If a judge was present at the marriage meeting and he signed or sealed the marriage certificate after the marriage contract, the marriage certificate need only be carried to the court and presented for registration.

ARTICLE 19: A marriage contract for a minor, in the absence of the permission of a Sharia wali (custodian) or a legal marriage certificate, is not valid.

ARTICLE 20: Whenever the wali of the bride or bridegroom has a bad moral reputation and the marriage is not of foreseeable benefit to the minor boy or girl, the marriage is not to be held. If the marriage of the minor boy or girl is for the material use of the wali, the marriage contract is invalid.

ARTICLE 21: A marriage contract cannot be taken in lieu of debt or bud (blood money).

*marriage portion

ARTICLE 22: An Afghan mussulman woman may not marry other than a mussulman.

ARTICLE 23: In case of the contractors (of the marriage) or both are citizens of any foreign state, if they have residence in Afghanistan, the provisions of Article 18 will be applied in the absence of objections based on the Sharia. In a foreign country, if one of the contractors (of the marriage) or both of them are citizens of Afghanistan, by going to an Embassy or other Afghan agency, provided that there is no Sharia prohibitions to the marriage, the marriage certificate may be given in accordance with the provisions of this law by the Afghan agency.

ARTICLE 24: If the bride is divorced or widowed at the time of the new marriage, notice of the Sharia divorce certificate or proof of the death of the former husband by two citizens is required, and must be registered in the marriage certificate.

No one, including the relatives of the deceased husband, has the right to contract the widower to anyone without her consent, or to prevent her from (making) a Sharia contract.

ARTICLE 25: The marriage certificate is a document of man and woman which proves the contract of marriage.

The marriage certificates after registration should be deposited with the bride or bar representative by the bridegroom. The bridegroom may obtain a duplicate of the marriage certificate from the court.

ARTICLE 26: The bride may take the right of ownership of the property which is fixed as mah’r.

ARTICLE 27: In urban areas, the marriage certificate will be given by the court on the request of the bride and bridegroom or their walis, to two reliable persons of the division (XXXX), while the marriage certificate is certified by the director of the region (XXXX) and the representative of the division concerned.

Outside of urban areas, the marriage certificate will be given on the request of the bride and bridegroom, or of their walis, or of two dependable persons of the place, while the marriage certificate is certified by the imam of the masjed of the place.

ARTICLE 28: A marriage certificate taken from the court must be returned to the court for registration within one month. If the marriage is not held, the marriage certificate should be returned to the court and voided and this will be recorded in the second copy.

ARTICLE 29: The price of voided marriage certificates will not be refunded by the court.

ARTICLE 30: The marriage certificate and divorce certificate must be registered in the court of documents. In areas where a court of documents is not organized, the courts of justice will execute this duty.

ARTICLE 31: The price of the marriage certificate in one hundred Afghanis.

CHAPTER THREE: DIVORCE AND SEPARATION

ARTICLE 32: To give a Sharia divorce is the right of a husband. The husband may surrender the power of divorce to his wife by a Sharia document.

ARTICLE 33: Every wife or husband, in case a divorce has occurred, may demand the divorce certificate from the court. The husband is bound to arrange the divorce documents. The divorce documents as well as the other documents will be registered in the courts and must be submitted directly to the woman or to her Sharia representative.

ARTICLE 34: In the event that the wife wishes to use the authority of divorce surrendered (as mentioned in Article 32), she must demand from the related courts that the court consider the documents which surrendered the authority and prepare a divorce certificate.

ARTICLE 35: The woman may, in accordance with the provisions of the Sharia, demand her divorce or separation in the related court.

CHAPTER FOUR

ARTICLE 36: A lawsuit related to marriage cannot be heard in the court against persons who do not have a legal marriage document, either according to the Law of Marriage and Arrangements of Marriage Certificates of 1339 or the provisions of this law. The verdict of a primary court in such a case, not based on a hearing, is a final judgment after consideration of the documents. Forged and suspected documents are excepted from this provision.

ARTICLE 37: A lawsuit concerning a marriage which appears to have been contracted on a date after Qaus 1339, but there is no legal marriage certificate between (the parties) or appears to have been contracted previous to Qaus 1339, may be heard provided that the marriage contract between the parties is well known, or there is a relationship between the woman and husband which is certified by a number or reliable and trusted persons worthy of the confidence of the court.

A case involving such conditions should be filed in the competent court and decided in accordance with the provisions of the Sharia.

ARTICLE 38: The court of jurisdiction for lawsuits concerning marriage, divorce and separation, is the local primary court of the defendant’s place of residence.

CHAPTER FIVE: MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 39: The non-existence of a marriage document shall not cause the deprivation of inheritance or prevent proof of parentage unless a Sharia document exists concerning the deprivation of inheritance or denial of percentage.

ARTICLE 40: In cities, municipalities, and regions, the woleswalis are required to advertise and inform the director of the district, the area agents and the imams of the masjeds of the procedures and provisions of this law and take acknowledgment from them. The text of this law must be posted in public places and in masjeds for public information.

ARTICLE 41: Any cases that are not foreseen by this law, the provisions of the Hnnafi XXXX (jurisprudence) of Islamic Shariat will be applied in accordance with Article 69 of the Constitution.

ARTICLE 42: The provisions of this law will be in effect after XXXX days from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.

After the enforcement of this law, the Law of Marriage and Arrangement of Marriage Certificates published in Qaus 1339 shall be recognized as abrogated.