Silva vs. Registrar General and Others – sllr 2020 volume 1 page 247

In the case between Silva (the aggrieved petitioner, surviving spouse) and the Registrar General and Others, the court addressed the issue of whether an ex parte divorce decree, allegedly obtained by fraud and without proper service by the late husband, could be set aside after the husband’s death through revision and/or restitutio in integrum. Relief was sought on grounds that service of summons and the decree nisi had not been effected, rendering the decree a product of procedural irregularity and fraud. The legal issues included the survival of a personal cause of action after the death of the party who obtained the decree, the appropriateness of filing directly in this forum without first seeking District Court relief, and whether delay or laches precluded relief. It was held that the