Commentary on Sections Part 1: Forced Marriage Protection Orders Section 1: Forced marriage protection orders
5.Subsection (1) enables the Court of Session or a sheriff to make a forced marriage protection order for the purposes of protecting a person from being forced or from any attempt to force the person into a marriage, or protecting a person who has been forced into a marriage.
6.Subsections (2) and (3) set out the issues that the court must consider when deciding whether to make an order and the type of order that should be made.
7.Subsection (4) describes what a forced marriage means for the purposes of Part 1. Subsection (5) makes it clear that the conduct which forces a person into marriage does not have to be directed against that person and includes, for example, circumstances in which the perpetrator threatens to commit suicide if the person does not submit to the marriage.
8.Subsection (6) defines “force” to include coercion by physical, verbal or psychological means, threatening conduct, harassment or other means. This would include, for example, coercion by the threat of blackmail and coercion by other means which may involve the use of deception. It is also “force” to knowingly take advantage of a person’s incapacity to consent to marriage or to understand the nature of the marriage.