Nothing in this Act shall authorize the court to make any decree of nullity of marriage except-

(a) where the marriage has been registered or deemed to be registered under this Act; or

(b) where the marriage between the parties was contracted under a law providing that, or in contemplation of which, marriage is monogamous; and

(c) where both the parties to the marriage reside in Malaysia at the time of the commencement of the proceedings.

Any husband or wife may present a petition to the court praying for a decree of nullity in respect of his or her marriage.

A marriage which takes place after the appointed date shall be void if-

(a) at the time of the marriage either party was already lawfully married and the former husband or wife of such party was living at the time of the marriage and such former marriage was then in force;

(b) a male person marries under eighteen years of age or a female person who is above sixteen years but under eighteen years marries without a special licence granted by the Chief Minister under section 10;

(c) the parties are within the prohibited degrees of relationship unless the Chief Minister grants a special licence under subsection 11(6); or

(d) the parties are not respectively male and female.

A marriage which takes place after the appointed date shall be voidable on the following grounds only, that is to say:

(a) that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the incapacity of either party to consummate it;

(b) that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the wilful refusal of the respondent to consummate it;

(c) that either party to the marriage did not validly consent to it, whether in consequence of duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind or otherwise;

(d) that at the time of the marriage either party, though capable of giving a valid consent, was (whether continuously or intermittently) a mentally disordered person within the meaning of the Mental Disorders Ordinance 1952 [Ord. 31 of 1952] of such a kind or to such an extent as to be unfit for marriage;

(e) that at the time of the marriage the respondent was suffering from veneral disease in a communicable form;

(f) that at the time of the marriage the respondent was pregnant by some person other than the petitioner.

(1) The court shall not grant a decree of nullity on any of the grounds mentioned in section 70 if the respondent satisfied the court-

(a) that the petitioner, with knowledge that it was open to him to have the marriage avoided, so conducted himself in relation to the respondent as to lead the respondent reasonably to believe that he would not seek to do so; and

(b) that it would be unjust to the respondent to grant the decree.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), the court shall not grant a decree of nullity on the grounds mentioned in paragraph 70(e) or (f) unless it is satisfied that the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts alleged.

(3) Subsection (1) replaces, in relation to the grounds mentioned in section 70, any rule of law whereby a decree may be refused by reason of approbation, ratification or lack of sincerity on the part of the petitioner or on similar grounds.

Where, apart from this Act, any matter affecting the validity of a marriage would fall to be determined (in accordance with the rules of Private International Law) by reference to the law of a country outside Malaysia neither section 69 nor section 70 shall-

(a) preclude the determination of that matter as aforesaid; or

(b) require the application to the marriage of the grounds there mentioned except so far as applicable in accordance with those rules.

(1) If the court finds that the petitioner's case has been proved it shall pronounce a decree of nullity.

(2) A decree of nullity granted after the appointed date on the ground that marriage is voidable shall operate to annul the marriage only as respects any time after the coming into operation of the decree, and the marriage shall, notwithstanding the decree, be treated as if it had existed up to that time.

Collusion shall cease to be a bar to the granting of a decree of nullity.

(1) Where a decree of nullity is granted in respect of a voidable marriage, any child who would have been the legitimate child of the parties to the marriage if at the date of the decree it had been dissolved instead of being annulled shall be deemed to be their legitimate child.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the child of a void marriage shall be treated as the legitimate child of his parent if, at the time of the solemnization of the marriage, both or either of the parties reasonably believed that the marriage was valid.

(3) Subsection (2) applies-

(a) only where the father of the child was domiciled in Malaysia at the time of the marriage; and

(b) in so far as it affects the devolution of any property only to children born after the appointed date.

(4) This section does not affect any rights under the intestacy of a person who died before the appointed date, and does not affect the operation or construction of any disposition coming into operation before the appointed date.

(5) Notwithstanding section 6 of the Legitimacy Act 1961 all children who are deemed legitimate at birth by virtue of the provisions of this section shall be so treated in all respects and not as persons legitimated at the date of the marriage or of the Legitimacy Act
1961 [Act 60] as provided therein.

(6) Any person claiming otherwise than in a petition for a declaration of nullity of the relevant marriage that a child shall be treated as the legitimate child of his parents by virtue of subsection (3) may apply for a decree to that effect and section 5 of the Legitimacy Act 1961 shall apply mutatis mutandis to such petition but the court shall not make such a decree unless satisfied by the petitioner that both or either of the parties to the marriage reasonably believed that the marriage was valid as not being in any way contrary to section 71.

(7) In this section the following expressions have the meaning hereby assigned to them, that is to say-

"void marriage" means a marriage declared to be void under sections 6, 10, 11, subsection 22(4) or section 72;

"disposition" has the same meaning as in the Legitimacy Act 1961,

and any reference in this section to property is a reference to any real or personal property, or any interest in such property, which is limited by any disposition (whether subject to a preceding limitation or charge or not) in such a way as to devolve as nearly as the law permits, whether or not the property or some interest in the property may in some event become severed from it.