De strijd tegen (schijn)huwelijken voltrokken in het buitenland : is het Belgisch ipr aan een update toe?

In this paper, I argue that the current legal framework as it stands offers sufficient means to refuse any effect to a marriage celebrated outside Belgium if it appears that it is a marriage of convenience. There has been much talk of strenghtening and fine tuning the legal framework in order to offer real protection against such foreign sham marriages. A thorough analysis of the law as it stands, and in particular of Article 27 of the Code of Privat International Law reveals that such fine tuning is by no means necessary. Article 27 properly applied already offers sufficient protection against such marriages. The analysis also reveals that in order to refuse effect to foreign marriages of convenience, it is not even necessary to call upon the doctrine of ordre public or of fraus legem, to which Article 27 refers. The application of these two doctrines appears to be very complex and will in most cases not be necessary.