Corbett v Corbett

Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley) is a 1970 family law divorce case heard between November and December 1969 by the High Court of England and Wales in which Arthur Corbett sought annulment of his marriage to April Ashley. Corbett had known at the time of the wedding that Ashley had been registered at birth "as of the male sex", and had undergone what at the time was referred to as a "sex-change operation". However, after the relationship had broken down Corbett sought to end the marriage, with the grounds for divorce being that as Ashley was "a person of the male sex" the marriage was invalid. Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom was illegal at the time.

The court held that, for the purposes of marriage, sex was to be legally defined by three factors present at birth that the judge referred to as "biological" – namely chromosomal, gonadal and genital. Any surgery or medical intervention was to be ignored, as were any psychological factors (which were in this case identified with Ashley's "transsexualism"). The judge held that the marriage (which had to be between man and woman) should be annulled. Although the judgment was restricted to a consideration of legal sex specifically within marriage, its reasoning was later applied more widely within England and Wales.