Decree nisi

The court order dissolving a marriage is called a decree, and is made in two stages.  The first stage is the decree nisi.  'Nisi' is Latin for 'unless'.  When a judge pronounces the decree nisi in a divorce case, s/he is saying that the marriage is to be dissolved unless something, for example the appearance of new evidence, happens to change the situation.

A few years ago the government of the day decided to modernise divorce procedure.  'Decrees' were to be replaced by 'orders' an...

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