Bride dies immediately after wedding

Recently a friend of mine got married in church in a very large and expensive wedding. Tragically, immediately after the marriage ceremony, while they were still in church, the bride suddenly became unwell, collapsed and died. Everyone was devastated. The groom had spent a fortune on the wedding venue, catering, decorations and other arrangements. He also has an ex-girlfriend who, despite their breakup, has always remained in love with him. Someone jokingly suggested that since marriage is ‘until death do us part’, death has unfortunately already parted him from his wife and he could marry the ex-girlfriend immediately. The groom is now asking whether this is legally possible. Could a person whose spouse dies immediately after the wedding marry someone else on the same day?

PK, Dar es Salaam

This is a tragic scenario, and certainly one where the law and common sense may give slightly different answers. Legally, if the marriage ceremony had been properly completed before the bride died, the fact that the marriage lasted only a few minutes does not make it any less of a marriage. Section 12 of the Law of Marriage Act (the Act) provides that a marriage subsists until it is determined by, amongst other things, the death of either party. Therefore, sadly, the bride’s death would determine the marriage and the groom would become a widower. There is no minimum number of days, months or years that spouses must have lived together before death can determine their marriage.

The words ‘until death do us part’ may, therefore, have become literally true much sooner than anyone could possibly have imagined. However, this does not mean that the ex-girlfriend can simply put on the late bride’s wedding dress, walk into the church and continue with the programme. A marriage to the ex-girlfriend would be an entirely new marriage involving different parties and must independently comply with the requirements of the Act, including 21 days’ notice of the intention to marry between giving the notice and contracting the marriage. However, an interesting exception exists. The Act allows the ordinary notice requirement to be dispensed with in appropriate circumstances, and the Registrar General has a procedure through which parties may apply for such dispensation where sufficient reasons exist.

Insulted at supermarket and retaliated

I recently witnessed an incident at a supermarket where a cashier allegedly called a customer ‘Shangingi’. The customer became extremely angry, picked up her tablet and hit the cashier on the head with it. Other customers and staff had to intervene. There has been a lot of debate on social media about who was actually wrong. Some say the cashier started everything by insulting the customer and, therefore, deserved the reaction, while others say words can never justify violence. Under Tanzanian law, can insulting someone amount to an offence? More importantly, if somebody seriously insults or humiliates me in public, am I legally entitled to hit them?

TM, Dar es Salaam

Two wrongs do not make a right and, in this case, they may potentially make two criminal offences. Under section 89 of the Penal Code, Cap. 16, a person who uses obscene, abusive or insulting language towards another person in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace commits an offence. Therefore, calling somebody an unpleasant name is not automatically a criminal act simply because that person feels offended. The words used, their meaning, the circumstances in which they were uttered, the manner in which they were said and whether they were likely to cause a breach of the peace would all be relevant.

However, being insulted does not ordinarily give you a licence to assault the person who insulted you. Under section 240 of the Penal Code, unlawfully assaulting another person constitutes common assault and is punishable by imprisonment for up to 1 year. Where the assault causes actual bodily harm, section 241 provides for a more serious offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which carries imprisonment of up to 5 years. Whether hitting somebody on the head with a tablet falls within the latter offence would depend, amongst other things, on the injury actually caused and the available evidence.

Interestingly, Tanzanian criminal law does recognize the concept of provocation. Section 202 of the Penal Code recognizes that a wrongful act or insult may, in certain circumstances, amount to provocation where it is of such a nature as would be likely to deprive an ordinary person of self-control and induce that person to commit the kind of assault in question. This is, however, very different from saying that every insult legally justifies retaliation. The nature of the insult, immediacy of the reaction, proportionality of the response and all surrounding circumstances would need to be considered. Therefore, a cashier may potentially be answerable for abusive language, while an offended customer may separately be answerable for assault.

Sister hid our father’s Will

Our father died recently leaving several properties. Before his death, I knew that he had prepared a Will, but after the funeral, my elder sister suddenly announced that nobody could find it and we should distribute the estate as though our father died without a Will. I later discovered that she had secretly hidden it because our father had given her a smaller share than she expected. We are obviously going to challenge her over the estate, but my question is different: is hiding somebody’s Will merely a family succession dispute or can it actually be a criminal offence?

AM, Moshi

Section 277 of the Penal Code, Cap. 16 specifically deals with concealing Wills. It provides that a person who, with intent to defraud, conceals a testamentary instrument, whether the person who made the Will is living or dead, commits an offence and is liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years. Therefore, deliberately hiding your father’s Will so that his estate is distributed differently from his wishes is potentially much more than siblings fighting over inheritance. The intention behind the concealment would of course be important, and the allegation would have to be proved by evidence.

Perhaps the lesson for families is simple: you may disagree with what your father wrote in his Will, but hiding the Will does not rewrite it. It may instead write your name into a completely different file at the police station.