Forced marriage.

[brionon]

Twice heard question on the BBC yesterday--''Should forced Marriages be illegal ?'' You mean they aren't ?

I don't believe it, do you ?

[spaced]

what, that they are legal, or a good thing?

[jno]

well, are you going to prosecute a bride for taking part in a forced marriage? The groom? A marriage can be annulled if it wasn't based on mutual consent (I think) but that's not the same as being illegal.

[Lonnie]

In short, they aren't illegal, and never will be, maybe you could define your idea of forced.

[don1]

It's a pretty simple answer Lonnie any marriage in which a bride has no say in is forced and should be outlawed in any civilised country, and because Britain allows this slavery it has no right to call itself a civilised country

[Lonnie]

Point taken don1, I wrote that in a rush, (time), without thinking it through.

[bernardo]

There is no specific law which says that "forced marriage" is a specific criminal offence. But people who force marriages on unwilling people can already be prosecuted for other crimes such as assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment etc.