This is a pre-print (i.e. pre-peer review) copy of an article accepted for publication in the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law. Please see the journal (http://jdi.sagepub.com/ ) for the final and definitive version of the article. The curious case of marriage/civil partnership discrimination in Britain September 2012 Word Count: 6,200 James Hand School of Law, University of Portsmouth, Richmond Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth PO1 3DE email: James.Hand@port.ac.uk tel: 023 92 844818 Abstract Discrimination on grounds of marital status was one of the first grounds to be protected in British discrimination law (as part of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975). However, it has always been a highly restricted provision and, seldom litigated, it faced abolition during the passage of the Equality Act 2010. Although Marriage/Civil Partnership was retained as a protected characteristic, the Equality Act 2010 did nothing to clarify or expand its function. This article considers developments that could mean that Marriage/Civil Partnership discrimination could have a much wider scope rather than, as some would have it, being relegated to being a quaint relic of the past. Keywords Discrimination, Marriage/Civil Partnership, Marital Status, Protected Characteristics, Equality Act 2010