Conflict of Laws

The recognition of same-sex marriage is becoming an issue in many countries, and there are today 14 countries allowing same-sex marriage, including Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, and 11 states of the United States.

In Ireland however, as Emily Geaney says, ?marriage is exclusively a heterosexual union. Section 2(2)(e) of the Civil Registration Act 2004 makes it clear that parties to a marriage must be of the opposite sex?. This is the reason why this essay will try to understand how Ireland deals, through conflict of laws rules, with foreign same-sex marriage.

This essay will be divided in three parts, the first one explaining the issues of recognition of marriage in conflict of laws, the second one will study the question of recognition of same-sex marriage through a founding case called the Zappone case, and the third one will explain the transformation Ireland makes from a foreign same-sex marriage to a civil partnership.