DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 15 -- FIFTY-FIVE years after Tanzania enacted its marriage law, and a decade after Rebeca Gyumi took the government to court over provisions allowing girls to marry before the age of 18, the legal question at the heart of the case remains unresolved.

The 2016 lawsuit was widely seen as a turning point in Tanzanias long-running debate over child marriage. Yet the provisions challenged in court remain part of the Law of Marriage Act, 1971, raising a fundamental question: Did the courts actually strike down the law, or did they leave Parliament to amend it? The Law of Marriage Act, 1971, sets different minimum ages for boys and girls to marry.

Section 13 states that a male must have reached 18 to marry, while a female m...