Woman refused religious divorce granted damages

A Jewish woman who was refused a religious divorce by her husband has been awarded substantial damages by the Canadian Supreme Court.

Stephanie Bruker and her former spouse Jason Marcovitz married in 1969 but were legally divorced in 1980. As part of their divorce agreement, Mr Marcovitz had agreed to give Ms Bruker a 'get'

However, he changed his mind and did not grant her this type of divorce until 1995. As such, his 48-year-old ex-wife was unable to re-marry or have children in the Jewish faith because under Jewish law she was still married to him, Canada's Globe and Mail reports.

According to the paper, the Quebec Superior Court found that Mr Marcovitz had breached his contractual obligations and Ms Bruker was awarded CA$47,500 (£23,000). This ruling was overturned by the Quebec Court of Appeal, but in a majority judgment the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Mr Bruker's favour.

Judge Rosalie Abella wrote: "The public interest in protecting equality rights, the dignity of Jewish women in their independent ability to divorce and remarry, as well as the public benefit in enforcing valid and binding contractual obligations, are among the interests and values that outweigh Mr Marcovitz's claim that enforcing paragraph 12 of the consent would interfere with his religious freedom."

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