Limitations of Applicability of Civil Procedure Code to Family Court Proceedings

Abstract

To summarize the versatility of civil law and what all it entails in a single tight compartment is akin to doing injustice to the vast field of civil law. To streamline the procedure of the same, the Civil Procedure Code came into the being. The code was introduced with the basic aim to rationalize and consolidate the process to be following while adjudicating matters related to civil law. With the introduction of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Muslim Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, 1955 and so on coupled with the rise in matrimonial related disputes and resultant sharp rise in the number of cases being filed, the Family Courts Act, 1984 was incepted. Eventually all states too made their own rules to bring together the whole process in a linear manner. In this paper the author aims to analyse as to what extent CPC determines the functioning of cases filed under the ambit of family Law and if at all the family courts by virtue of Family Courts Act, 1984 have been given certain independence in this aspect. If yes, then where does that stem from primarily and in case of conflict between the two which one would prevail.