Morocco Marriage Recognition Decision Overturns Legal Deadline

The Court of Appeal of Casablanca recently upheld a first instance judgment validating a conjugal relationship. The judges determined that the end of the application of article 16 of the Family Code, enacted on February 5, 2019, does not prohibit courts from ruling on these requests.

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To justify this approach, the court invokes article 400 of the Moudawana, which authorizes recourse to jurisprudence and the Maliki rite in the absence of explicit text. The institution thus recalls that marriage is not based solely on administrative documentation, but above all on its fundamental religious pillars: consent, dowry, guardian, and witnesses.

To support this validation, the court specifies that the union can be established by all legal means, including confession. Both parties formally acknowledged the existence of their relationship, from which several children were born, thus forging the conviction of the judges.

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The court also ruled on another point: a man’s marriage to a new wife in no way hinders the recognition of a previous union meeting religious conditions. This position aligns with Court of Cassation rulings, concerned with preserving family balance. The appeal was therefore validated in form and the original verdict upheld in substance, with costs borne by the public treasury.