Here at the Global Legal Research Center we receive many interesting foreign law inquiries. Questions about laws that govern matters of personal status, including customary and religious laws, arise frequently from many of the African jurisdictions I cover. One of the issues that I have had the opportunity to research is the legality of proxy marriage and divorce under Islamic rites in The Gambia.
A proxy marriage is a marriage ceremony in which one party to the marriage is not physically present and is instead represented by another person. It may also involve a situation in which both parties to the marriage are absent, known as a double proxy marriage.
The law of The Gambia that applies to people of the Islamic faith permits marriage and divorce by proxy. This form of marriage is not unique to Muslims or to the African continent. Both the Roman law and the Canon law permitted proxy marriages. Some have traced the practice back to 15th century Europe, where travel was time-consuming and dan