Summary of Six Widow’s Case

Issue: Whether all the women have equal status and entitled equal shares from the husband’s property.

The Six Widows’ Case discuss on the application of Chinese customary law that is applied in Malaysia.
Due to the absence of precedents from China and authoritative text as, courts had decided for the case
based on English law. Based on the facts, a rich Chinese man died intestate leaving a vast fortune. He
married women as primary wife predeceased him leaving one son. However, there are Six other women
claimed to be his widows, some having children with him including one born before marriage. Besides
that, whether the children were ‘legitimate’ as required by the English Statute of Distributions 1670.
Based on this case, it concluded that the requirements for formal validity of marriage were the same for
first wife and other wives which are a long-continued cohabitation, intention to form a permanent union
and public repute. The law based on this case treated these marriages as of equal status among the 4 of
the widows. They are entitled of equal shares from the husband’s property and were given same rights
to administer the deceased’s estate. Moreover, children of all the wives will be considered legitimate,
even born after marriage. Thus, entitle to inherit equally with the children of first wife. By this case of
huge proportions, the court also affirmed the common law of legitimacy as received law in the Straits
Settlements, although the way it was applied to the Chinese who were held to be allowed to marry
polygamous would not be familiar to a common lawyer in England. Even a male child could only
succeed to a father’s intestate estate, not just on proof of biological connection (as Chinese custom
would likely have allowed), but additionally on proof that the conception or birth had legitimately taken
place during the subsistence of a valid marriage between his parents. To analyse the case, question
should be asked on what is considered as marriage. According to English matrimonial law, marriage is
a monogamous contract between a man and a woman. Obviously that definition does not suit the
judgement made by the courts in this case. However, while referred to the Chinese law, marriage refers
to a monogamous contract where a husband can only have one lawful and official wife at a time but it
is clear in Chinese custom that Chinese man is permitted to take any number of inferior wives. Besides
that, based on the case of Choa Choon Neoh v Spttiswoode, court held that polygamous marriages were
to be recognized by law of the Strait Settlement for the reason that it was settled law by the Second
Charter of Justice which subject to the qualification that English law that was received was to be applied
subject to local religions, manners and customs. However, by the emergence of Law Reform Marriage
Act, had abolished the polygamous marriages among non-Muslims including Chinese.

Held: The court held that Chinese customary marriages were polygamous. Thus four of the women
were lawfully married where consist of the primary wife or t’sai and others named as inferior wives or
concubine called t’sip. However, another two of the women failed in their claims as they did not undergo
solemnization