Impediment to marriage

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The obstacle to marriage is one that prevents the engaged couple from entering into a perfect marriage.

German civil law

In German civil law, an impediment to marriage is any circumstance that prevents one of the engaged couple from being able to marry . Major impediments are lack of capacity , marriageable age and the marriage prohibitions , as well as a lack of will in the Declaration of awareness and business will , unlawful threats or lose consciousness.

Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church

If there is an impediment to marriage under canon law , spouses cannot enter into a valid church marriage. The obstacle must already exist at the time of the marriage and thus prevents a valid marriage from taking place regardless of the will of the parties involved. The obstacle to marriage is to be distinguished from the church law prohibition of marriage, which is aimed at the celebrants involved in the sacramental celebration . On the other hand, obstacles to marriage are characteristics that adhere to the couple themselves.

In church law, a distinction is made between divine law barriers to marriage (ius divinum) and purely church law (ius mere ecclesiasticum) . The church can dispense with the obstacles to marriage under purely ecclesiastical law , since it has set them up itself. This is not the case with obstacles to marriage under divine law. They are viewed as being laid out in God's order of creation and are therefore immutable and valid over time.

As part of the preparation for marriage if there is a marriage obstacle can before the wedding ceremony the dispensation be requested. The application for a dispensation and its grant must be documented in the marriage preparation protocol .

Obstacles to divine law

  1. existing marriage bond (ligamen) , can. 1085 CIC (this is also assumed for divorced unbaptized persons);
  2. Impotence in the sense of impotentia coeundi (inability to have sex), can. 1084 CIC, whereby here no distinction is made between man and woman, relative (only occurring in relation to a certain person) and absolute (generally occurring and mostly physically caused) or mentally and physically caused impotence (the impotence must however be "absolute" in the sense of irreversible and perfect and is therefore usually difficult to prove); Infertility or infertility is not an obstacle to marriage;
  3. Consanguinity in a straight line (parents, forefathers, children, grandchildren, etc.) and between siblings (whether this obstacle is really divine right is disputed under canon law; but there is a separate provision that excludes dispensation by law), can. 1091 CIC in connection with can. 1078 § 3 CIC.

Obstacles to Church Law

  1. The minimum age for entering into a valid marriage has not yet been reached (14 for women, 16 for men), can. 1083 CIC (not dispensable by law);
  2. Religious difference (no or not recognized baptism , interreligious marriage ), can. 1086 CIC;
  3. Ordination as priest or deacon , can. 1087 CIC;
  4. (Eternal) vow of celibacy in a religious institute , can. 1088 CIC; analogous to the reception of the virgin consecration
  5. Kidnapping of Mrs. (Traditional abduction or raptio called), can. 1089 CIC;
  6. Spouse murder , can. 1090 CIC;
  7. Consanguinity up to the fourth degree of the sideline (mediated via siblings, uncles, cousins ​​etc.); up to the second degree of the sideline (siblings) there is no dispensation from this, can. 1091 CIC;
  8. Brotherhood , can. 1092 CIC;
  9. Lack of public respectability , this refers in particular to the "simulated brotherhood", i.e. the relationship of one with a former non-sacramental partner (in earlier law this included cohabitation and civil marriage without church blessing) of the other spouse, today it is individual cases limited and irrelevant in practice, can. 1093 CIC;
  10. Kinship through adoption (there is no canonical definition of adoption, but can. 110 CIC refers to the secular law currently in force), can. 1094 CIC.

The power to grant dispensation in the event of ordination, vows and spousal murder is reserved for the Apostolic See alone . Of the other obstacles that cannot be assigned to divine law and for which dispensation is not otherwise excluded by law, the dispensing power rests with the bishop and is exercised on his behalf by the respective church court ( official office ). In the case of a marriage of different denominations with a Christian, in which nothing specifically indicates a religious difference (i.e. a missing valid baptism of the partner), the pastor in Germany can also grant an alternative (ad cautelam) dispensation from the religious difference .

Obstacles to marriage prevent a marriage from taking place in accordance with canonical law, regardless of the will of those involved and of compliance with the formal requirements of the marriage. In addition, there are other reasons why a church marriage cannot validly come about; In terms of the matter, these are also dividing barriers to marriage:

  1. Defects in form, i.e. non-compliance with the required form without obtaining a dispensation from the formal obligation (responsibility: local bishop, in the case of marriages of different denominations among Christians without Eastern Church participation in Germany also the pastor)
  2. Defects in the will to marry: there is no valid marriage consensus , for example a marriage under duress or an error about the person of the partner or the scope of the promise of marriage (indissolubility, conjugal partnership including the will to have a child, etc.)

The ecclesiastical court responsible for the marriage annulment shall decide on the validity of the marriage upon request . In particular, it is also checked whether there was an impediment to marriage and whether the marriage must therefore be viewed by the church as void (not effective).

Suspensive obstacles

Suspensive obstacles (for the designation cf. CIC of 1917, can. 1058ff.) Or marriage bans are, according to the current church law, according to the matter:

  1. Residency
  2. state bans
  3. Obligations of one of the bride and groom towards another partner or children
  4. Apostasy
  5. Flexural punishments (i.e. excommunication or interdict ),
  6. Ignorance or justified objection by parents in the case of minors (cf. can 1071 CIC 1983, § 1–6)
  7. Marriage prohibitions introduced by the local ordinary (can. 1077)
  8. Missing minimum age, provided that the Bishops' Conference has set a higher than the above-mentioned, valid for the universal Church
  9. legitimate putative marriage with another (this obstacle is only dividing if this is actually a valid marriage, can. 1085)
  10. Confessional difference (can. 1124) ( interdenominational marriage )
  11. Formal deficiency in the marriage of a Catholic with a member of a non-Catholic Eastern Church through marriage to an otherwise inconsistent clerical official, e.g. B. a priest of this Eastern Church (can. 1127 § 1, all other defects of form are separating),
  12. Lack of public access to marriage (for can. 1130 prescribes an authorization requirement for this)
  13. Temporary religious vow of chastity if the time is not up (according to the nature of the matter, not mentioned in the CIC)

Such a marriage may not be concluded, but is valid (unless there is another obstacle as well) if it was nevertheless concluded. In Germany, dispensation, permission or approval can regularly be given by the local ordinary , and in the case of a mixed marriage with a non-Catholic who does not belong to the Orthodox Churches, also by the local pastor.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: obstacle to marriage  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mixed marriage. In: bz-bx.net. Diocese of Bozen-Brixen, accessed on April 2, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Viktor Dormann: "Infertility is not an obstacle to marriage". Interview with Peter Schmid, head of the marriage court of the diocese of Basel. In: kath.ch. June 26, 2008, accessed April 2, 2014 .