The foregoing provisions of this Act shall have effect subject to the provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act (which contains transitional provisions required in consequence of the repeals made by this Act); and, subject to the provisions of the said Schedule 1, the enactments mentioned in the first and second columns of Schedule 2 to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent shown in the third column of that Schedule.
(1)This Act may be cited as the Matrimonial Causes-Act 1965.
(2)In this Act—
" adopted ", except in section 23(2), means adopted in pursuance of an adoption order made under the [1958 (7 & 8 Eliz. 2) c. 5.] Adoption Act 1958, any previous enactment relating to the adoption of children or any corresponding enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland or made in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands; and
" relevant child " means a child who is—
a child of both parties to the marriage in question; or
a child of one party to the marriage who has been accepted as one of the family by the other party,
and in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition " child " includes illegitimate child and adopted child ; and references to a child of the marriage in sections 17, 21(3), 22(2), 34(2) and 41(3) of this Act include references to a child adopted by both parties to the marriage.
(3)This Act shall come into force on such day as the Lord Chancellor may appoint by order made by statutory instrument.
(4)Subject to the provisions of section 38(2) of this Act, this Act does not extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland.