The Constitutional Court will rule on an application that revolves around the recognition in law of all partners in a Muslim marriage, when it sits in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The applicant in the case, Fatima Hassam, had applied for confirmation of an order of Constitutional invalidity made by the Cape High Court.

She was in a polygamous Muslim marriage, but when her husband died without a will, the estate's executor wouldn't entertain her claims as he disputed the existence of her marriage with the deceased.

She applied to the High Court challenging the validity of some of the provisions of the Intestate Succession Act (ISA) and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act (MSSA). She did this on the grounds that the two pieces of legislation unfairly exclude widows in polygamous Muslim marriages from the benefits provided for in those statutes, by excluding them from the concepts of "spouse" and "survivor".

The High Court declared section 1(4)(f) of the ISA to be inconsistent with the Constitution to the extent that it makes provision for only one spouse in a Muslim marriage to be an heir.

It held that the term "spouse" in that Act should be interpreted to include spouses in polygamous Muslim marriages, and that the mechanism used to calculate the share of the estate to which such spouses are entitled must be reformulated to give effect to such spouses' Constitutional rights.

The High Court further declared that the word "survivor" in the MSSA should be read to include surviving partners of polygamous Muslim marriages.

Exclusion of widows in polygamous Muslim marriages also infringes their Constitutional rights to equality, religion and culture.

During the hearing in May, the Women's Legal Centre Trust also argued for the court to order the President and Parliament to enact the Muslim Marriages Bill, which covers these concerns.

The Bill has an opt-out clause for people who want to conduct their marriages in terms of religious law.