There are basically three types of marriages in Ghana recognized by our laws, as some may say. They restrict the types to engulf the Customary Marriage (Marriage recognized and acceptable to a particular community/tribe based on its customs and practices), the Mohammedan Marriage (Marriage in accordance with the Islamic belief system), and the Christian Marriage (Marriage in accordance with the Christian belief system).
[Marriages Act 1884-1985]
Other marriages are also recognized under the laws of Ghana, but it seems their validity or otherwise must be tested against the requirements of Christian Marriages. This is so because the Marriages Act categorizes Ghanaian marriages under three parts, Part I-Customary, Part II-Mohammedan, Part III-Christian and other marriages. The uncertainty as to the types of marriages recognizable in Ghana I believe is what led Apaloo C.J (as he then was) to say that there are two types of marriages recognized under our laws, Monogamous Marriages (Marriage between one man and one woman strictly) and Polygamous Marriages (Marriage between one man and two or more women). [Appomasu v. Bremawuo (1980) GLR 278]
In Ghana the concept of a polygamous marriage between one woman and two or more men (Polyandry) is not recognized and this is simply because, our heritage only recognizes a man as the one who has the moral right to propose to and to marry a woman and not the vice versa. Polyandry is deemed as prostitution under our laws. [BARAKE v BARAKE [p.659] of [1993-94] 1 GLR 635]
Unlike a Christian Marriage, both the Customary and the Mohammedan Marriages are potentially polygamous. Unlike a Customary Marriage, the validity of both Christian and Mohammedan Marriages is registration with the Registrar of Marriages. Such that even though the law requires both the Mohammedan and Christian Marriages, unlike that of Customary Marriages, to be registered before they can said to be valid, in the absence of any registration, both marriages to some extent assume the status of a Customary Marriage. Failing to register, they may be deemed, most of the times, as Customary Marriages.
[BARAKE v BARAKE [p.642, 643] of [1993-94] 1 GLR 635]
A customary marriage which does not require registration for its validity, may be valid in these circumstances: Express consent of the parties’ parents to accept the parties as a couple (whether or not there is performance of customary rites, since a man may by word-of-mouth give his daughter’s hand in marriage to another); Implied consent of the parties’ parents accepting the parties as married (Parents of the woman (just as that of the man) recognize the existence of their union as marriage by allowing man to perform some rites as a husband to their daughter especially at family funerals or ceremonies); Express marriage agreement before credible and respectable witnesses, a Chief or Elders of the particular community (where the consent of the parents has been unreasonably withheld or their consent per the circumstances cannot be given); In the absence of any consent by parents or from a chief or elders, the living together as couple in the eyes of the society may be recognized as a Customary Marriage under customary law, but for one to be eligible for this protection under statute law, their living together must have been preceded by a marriage ceremony in the presence witnesses.
[YAOTEY v. QUAYE [1961] GLR 573]
[RE CAVEAT BY CLARA SACKITEY: RE MARRIAGE ORDINANCE, CAP 127 [1962] 1 GLR 180] [DJARBENG v. TAGOE [1989-90] 1 GLR 155]
[Section 31 of the Evidence Act (Act 323)]
Before the registration of a Mohammedan Marriage, the law requires that the one makes an oral declaration to marry the other, followed by an acceptance by that other at the same meeting and before two or three witnesses. The law requires the registration to be done thereafter within one week after the celebration else the marriage is void (of no legal effect). There is liberty however for the courts to grant an extension of time within which to register a celebrated Mohammedan Marriage upon an Ex Parte Application (An Application to court without notifying the party on the other side or the party against whom it is brought) by one of the parties to the celebration within a reasonable time.
[IN RE MARRIAGE OF MOHAMMEDANS ORDINANCE, CAP. 129 (1951 REV.); IN RE REGISTRATION OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN BYROUTHY AND AKYERE; EX PARTE ALI. [1980] GLR 872]
A Christian Marriage under the Ghanaian law requires registration with the Registrar of Marriages else same is void. The law requires that certificates are taken from the office of the Registrar of Marriages by the parties before the church wedding or celebration, during which period notice of the marriage is given by Registrar to the public for protesters to protest and banns are subsequently published at the designated (licensed) church or place of celebration for protesters to protest before the banns are lifted. The marriage must be celebrated at the designated place and be blessed by a licensed priest or officiating minister. The parties shall deliver to the said officiating priest either two marriage officer’s certificate, or a registrar’s certificate, or a Principal Registrar’s License before the celebration. The parties shall sign the certificates before the officiating minister during the ceremony who then signs as a witness to the marriage.
The parties or the officiating minister, after the church ceremony, returns the signed and witnessed certificates to the Registrar of Marriages for entry of particulars into the Marriages Record Books, this however is not a very crucial requirement for its validity because the law deems the marriage to have been effected upon the signing of the certificates, so even where the parties refuse to return the certificates for recording, there still exists a valid Christian marriage between the parties. The Principal Registrar’s License is normally issued under instances where the parties wished to dispense with the church ceremony and only require attending the office of the Registrar of Marriage or Court as authorized by the law together with their parents as witnesses, to sign the certificate to assume the status of a married couple. This is by far what is normally termed loosely by most Ghanaians as ‘Court Weddings’.
[Carr v Carr [1963] 2 G LR 331]
[SETSE v. SETSE [1959] GLR 155]