The High Court has reserved its decision regarding the Commonwealth’s challenge to the ACT’s same-sex marriage laws.

The court says it will hand down its decision next Thursday and in the meantime will allow same-sex marriages to take place in Canberra from Saturday.

The Commonwealth is challenging the validity of the ACT’s same-sex marriage laws, which were passed last month by the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Today, the Commonwealth Solicitor-General has told the High Court that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.

He says marriage is a common genus that is not divisible into multiple species.

The ACT is arguing that same-sex marriages can coexist in the ACT alongside the more traditional form of marriage.