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MOJ to make registration of marriages mandatory

"Most people are used to the regulations already. Is it really necessary to amend the law just because more and more Taiwanese investors have affairs with Chinese women?"

Wei Da-liang, a Taiwan High Court judge

The Ministry of Justice has decided to amend Article 982 of the Civil Code which will make the registration of legal marriages necessary.

The ministry held a public hearing on July 29 and invited marriage experts, government officials, university professors, lawyers and women's rights groups to discuss whether the ministry should proceed with amending marriage-related articles, especially Article 982 of the Civil Code.

Article 982 stipulates that a marriage must be "celebrated by an open ceremony" in the presence of two or more witnesses, but it does not require that the marriage be registered.

According to the ministry's Department of Legal Affairs Deputy Director Lin Hsiu-lian (林秀蓮), last Monday's public hearing gave a green light to the proposed amendment, which means that if the amendment is approved, marriages will have to be registered in order to be considered legal.

"We want to finish this amendment because most developed countries in the world all require that marriages be registered," Lin said. "In addition, after Taiwan lifted travel restrictions on trips to China, more and more Taiwanese investors took advantage of the loophole and married women in China even if they had already had a wife in Taiwan.

"We wanted to hear what the experts thought about this proposal before we proceeded any further," she added.

In the meantime, the ministry does not have a deadline for amending the Civil Code.

"We don't have a well-organized plan for this amendment. Not yet," she said.

The amendment was first proposed by Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) on March 22 when he was responding to lawmakers' questions about marriage related articles in the Civil Code at a meeting held by the legislature's Judicial Committee.

Under Chen's proposal, a marriage would not be legal without registration. Also, a person's marriage status and the name of his or her spouse would be printed on their photo identification cards.

Lawyer Jennifer Wang (王如玄) supports the proposal and said that the amendment will help prevent a lot of family tragedies and could warn innocent third party participants of affairs if the spouse's name is printed on photo identification cards.

Wang said that current regulations would have worked perfectly in the early 1900s since there weren't very many people.

"Back then, as long as you had an open marriage ceremony, everybody in the community knew which couples were married. Would that happen in today's society? No. Some people don't even know the names of their neighbors," she said.

Wang also reminded government officials to come up with a rider for the amendment.

"Once the amendment is finished, will marriages still be valid or will married couples will have to re-register?" she asked.

Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Shi Hwei-yow (許惠祐) also supports the proposal. He said that the amendment may help solve some of the problems posed by cross-strait marriages.

"According to our experience, Taiwanese husbands who have affairs with Chinese women while living in China is one of the most serious marital problems in Taiwan," he said.

KMT Legislator Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) does not believe that the change will stop Taiwanese casanovas from cheating on their wives.

"Let's be honest, if a Taiwanese man doesn't show his Taiwan photo identification card to his Chinese lover, how will his lover realize that her Taiwanese man is actually married?" she said.

Taiwan High Court Judge Wei Da-liang (魏大喨) had a different opinion and is against the proposal.

"Most people are used to the regulations already. Is it really necessary to amend the law just because more and more Taiwanese investors have affairs with Chinese women?" Wei asked.
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