Page:Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie.djvu/7



Rh The applicants also omitted to address all the consequences that would flow from the recognition of such a union or how it should be dissolved. The appeal was likely to raise complex and important questions of the legal conformity of our common law and statutory rules of marriage in the light of our Constitution and its resultant jurisprudence. Moseneke J pointed out that “[m]arriage and its legal consequences sit at the heart of the common law of persons, family and succession and of the statutory scheme of the Marriage Act. Moreover marriage touches on many other aspects of law, including labour law, insurance and tax. These issues are of importance not only to the applicants and the gay and lesbian community but also to society at large.”

Although considerations of saving costs and of an early and definitive decision of the disputed issues were in themselves weighty, they should not oust the important need for the common law, read in the light of the applicable statutes, to develop coherently and harmoniously within our constitutional context. The judgment emphasised that the views of the SCA on the matters that arose were of considerable importance. The nature of the dispute raised by the appeal was, as the High Court had correctly held in issuing a negative rule 18(2) certificate, pre-eminently suited to be considered first by the SCA. The application for leave to appeal directly to this Court was accordingly refused.

Rh