Summary
The question was whether the Peterborough county court had jurisdiction over the parties’ divorce proceedings.
The husband was born in Tanzania, but he was an Italian citizen. The wife was British. The parties met in England in 1979, and married in February 1988. They had three children; the mother was the primary carer.
The husband challenge the English court’s jurisdiction on two grounds.
First, it was noted that there had been prior Italian proceedings.
Secondly, it was alleged that the wife was not habitually resident in England, and as a result the English court had no jurisdiction under Article 3.
The English court dismissed the husband’s jurisdictional challenge.
First, Mr Justice Hedley held that “the effect of the order of 9th October in the Italian court was to bring those proceedings to an end and that unless and until an application for revival was made, the court was no longer seised of the matter [...].” [21]
Secondly, it was held that the English court had jurisdiction under Article 3(1) since the wife had always been habitually resident in England. [33]