Legal recognition of same-sex marriages in Lithuania and the ordre public exception

Although an increasing number of the European Union (EU) member states allow contracting of same-sex partnerships or marriages, national legal recognition has not been followed by cross-border mutual recognition of civil status. Considering the crucial effects of non-recognition, the EU is faced with the task of providing some kind of a solution. Meanwhile, the Lithuanian national legislation on recognition of marriages contracted abroad has been rather controversial. On the one hand, the Civil Code of Lithuania provides for a general rule on recognition of all marriages legally contracted abroad and the Supreme Court, as well as the commentators of the Civil Code in theory interpret these rules as allowing the recognition of polygamous marriages. On the other hand, various implementing institutions and Lithuanian scholars have recently relied on the ordre public exception, claiming that samesex marriages cannot be recognized. The author analyses the content of the Lithuanian public policy clause and the substantive family law provisions to conclude that the ordre public exception cannot justify refusal to recognize same-sex marriages.