Part 2Civil partnership: England and Wales

Chapter 6Miscellaneous

84Evidence

1

Any enactment or rule of law relating to the giving of evidence by a spouse applies in relation to a civil partner as it applies in relation to the spouse.

2

Subsection (1) is subject to any specific amendment made by or under this Act which relates to the giving of evidence by a civil partner.

3

For the avoidance of doubt, in any such amendment, references to a person’s civil partner do not include a former civil partner.

4

References in subsections (1) and (2) to giving evidence are to giving evidence in any way (whether by supplying information, making discovery, producing documents or otherwise).

5

Any rule of law—

a

which is preserved by section 7(3) of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 (c. 38) or section 118(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44), and

b

under which in any proceedings evidence of reputation or family tradition is admissible for the purpose of proving or disproving the existence of a marriage,

is to be treated as applying in an equivalent way for the purpose of proving or disproving the existence of a civil partnership.