Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007
Public General Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 (c. 20) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It seeks to assist victims of forced marriage, or those threatened with forced marriage, by providing civil remedies. It extends to England and Wales and Northern Ireland – it does not extend to Scotland, as this is a devolved competence.
Forced marriage protection order
The centrepiece of the Act is the forced marriage protection order (FMPO). A person threatened with forced marriage can apply to court for a forced marriage order can contain whatever provisions which the court finds would be appropriate to prevent the forced marriage from taking place, or to protect a victim of forced marriage from its effects, and may include such measures as confiscation of passport or restrictions on contact with the victim. The subject of a forced marriage order can be not just the person to whom the forced marriage will occur, but also any other person who aids, abets or encourages the forced marriage. A marriage can be considered forced not merely on the grounds of threats of physical violence to the victim, but also through threats of physical violence to third parties (e.g. the victim's family), or even self-violence (e.g. marriage procured through threat of suicide.) A person who violates a force marriage order is subject to contempt of court proceedings and may be arrested.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007” is public General Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Forced, Marriage and Civil, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “public General Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5467507. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 primary sources, Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 archive and Forced research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.