Notes: Contemporary Family Life

Subject Matter: Marriage in Canon Law

Can. 1055 §1. The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a
partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation
and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the
baptized….

§2. For this reason, a valid matrimonial contract cannot exist between the baptized without it being by
that fact a sacrament…..

Can. 1056 The essential properties of marriage are unity and indissolubility, which in Christian marriage obtain a
special firmness by reason of the sacrament….

Can. 1057 §1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons qualified by law, makes
marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent….

§2. Matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman mutually give and
accept each other through an irrevocable covenant in order to establish marriage…

Can. 1058 All persons who are not prohibited by law can contract marriage….

Can. 1059 Even if only one party is Catholic, the marriage of Catholics is governed not only by divine law but also
by canon law, without prejudice to the competence of civil authority concerning the merely civil effects of the
same marriage.

Can. 1060 Marriage possesses the favor of law; therefore, in a case of doubt, the validity of a marriage must be
upheld until the contrary is proven…

Can. 1061 §1. A valid marriage between the baptized is called ratum tantum if it has not been consummated; it is
called ratum et consummatum if the spouses have performed between themselves in a human fashion a conjugal
act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring, to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by
which the spouses become one flesh…

§2. After a marriage has been celebrated, if the spouses have lived together consummation is presumed
until the contrary is proven.

§3. An invalid marriage is called putative if at least one party celebrated it in good faith, until both parties
become certain of its nullity….

Can. 1062 §1. A promise of marriage, whether unilateral or bilateral, which is called an engagement, is governed
by the particular law established by the conference of bishops, after it has considered any existing customs and
civil laws.

§2. A promise to marry does not give rise to an action to seek the celebration of marriage; an action to
repair damages, however, does arise if warranted….

Can. 1065 §1. Catholics who have not yet received the sacrament of confirmation are to receive it before they
are admitted to marriage if it can be done without grave inconvenience….

§2. To receive the sacrament of marriage fruitfully, spouses are urged especially to approach the
sacraments of penance and of the Most Holy Eucharist.

Can. 1066 before a marriage is celebrated; it must be evident that nothing stands in the way of its valid and licit
celebration…

Can. 1067 the conference of bishops is to establish norms about the examination of spouses and about the
marriage banns or other opportune means to accomplish the investigations necessary before marriage. After
these norms have been diligently observed, the pastor can proceed to assist at the marriage….
SPECIFIC DIRIMENT IMPEDIMENTS

Can. 1073 A diriment impediment renders a person unqualified to contract marriage validly…

Can. 1074 An impediment which can be proven in the external forum is considered to be public; otherwise it is
occult.

Can. 1075 §1. It is only for the supreme authority of the Church to declare authentically when divine law prohibits
or nullifies marriage.

§2. Only the supreme authority has the right to establish other impediments for the baptized.

Can. 1076 A custom which introduces a new impediment or is contrary to existing impediments is reprobated.

Can. 1077 §1. In a special case, the local ordinary can prohibit marriage for his own subjects residing anywhere
and for all actually present in his own territory but only for a time, for a grave cause, and for as long as the cause
continues.

§2. Only the supreme authority of the Church can add a nullifying clause to a prohibition.

Can. 1078 §1. The local ordinary can dispense his own subjects residing anywhere and all actually present in his
own territory from all impediments of ecclesiastical law except those whose dispensation is reserved to the
Apostolic See.

Can. 1083 §1. A man before he has completed his sixteenth year of age and a woman before she has completed
her fourteenth year of age cannot enter into a valid marriage….

§2. The conference of bishops is free to establish a higher age for the licit celebration of marriage.

Can. 1084 §1. Antecedent and perpetual impotence to have intercourse, whether on the part of the man or the
woman, whether absolute or relative, nullifies marriage by its very nature…

§2. If the impediment of impotence is doubtful, whether by a doubt about the law or a doubt about a fact,
a marriage must not be impeded nor, while the doubt remains, declared null…..

§3. Sterility neither prohibits nor nullifies marriage, without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 1098…

Can. 1085 §1. A person bound by the bond of a prior marriage, even if it was not consummated, invalidly
attempts marriage.

§2. Even if the prior marriage is invalid or dissolved for any reason, it is not on that account permitted to
contract another before the nullity or dissolution of the prior marriage is established legitimately and certainly.

Can. 1086 §1. A marriage between two persons, one of whom has been baptized in the Catholic Church or
received into it and has not defected from it by a formal act and the other of whom is not baptized, is invalid.

§2. A person is not to be dispensed from this impediment unless the conditions mentioned in cann. ⇒
1125 and ⇒ 1126 have been fulfilled.

§3. If at the time the marriage was contracted one party was commonly held to have been baptized or the
baptism was doubtful, the validity of the marriage must be presumed according to the norm of ⇒ can. 1060 until it
is proven with certainty that one party was baptized but the other was not…

Can. 1087 those in sacred orders invalidly attempt marriage.

Can. 1088 those bound by a public perpetual vow of chastity in a religious institute invalidly attempt marriage.

Can. 1089 No marriage can exist between a man and a woman who has been abducted or at least detained with
a view of contracting marriage with her unless the woman chooses marriage of her own accord after she has
been separated from the captor and established in a safe and free place.

Can. 1090 §1. Anyone who with a view to entering marriage with a certain person has brought about the death of
that person’s spouse or of one’s own spouse invalidly attempts this marriage.

§2. Those who have brought about the death of a spouse by mutual physical or moral cooperation also
invalidly attempt a marriage together…
Can. 1091 §1. In the direct line of consanguinity marriage is invalid between all ancestors and descendants, both
legitimate and natural….

§2. In the collateral line marriage is invalid up to and including the fourth degree.

§3. The impediment of consanguinity is not multiplied

§4. A marriage is never permitted if doubt exists whether the partners are related by consanguinity in any
degree of the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line.

Can. 1092 Affinity in the direct line in any degree invalidates a marriage.

Can. 1093 The impediment of public propriety arises from an invalid marriage after the establishment of common
life or from notorious or public concubinage. It nullifies marriage in the first degree of the direct line between the
man and the blood relatives of the woman, and vice versa.

Can. 1094 those who are related in the direct line or in the second degree of the collateral line by a legal
relationship arising from adoption cannot contract marriage together validly.

MATRIMONIAL CONSENT

Can. 1095 the following are incapable of contracting marriage:

1/ those who lack the sufficient use of reason;

Can. 1096 §1. For matrimonial consent to exist, the contracting parties must be at least not ignorant that
marriage is a permanent partnership between a man and a woman ordered to the procreation of offspring by
means of some sexual cooperation.

§2. This ignorance is not presumed after puberty

Can. 1097 §1. Error concerning the person renders a marriage invalid.

§2. Error concerning a quality of the person does not render a marriage invalid even if it is the cause for
the contract, unless this quality is directly and principally intended.

Can. 1098 A person contracts invalidly who enters into a marriage deceived by malice, perpetrated to obtain
consent, concerning some quality of the other partner which by its very nature can gravely disturb the partnership
of conjugal life…

Can. 1099 Error concerning the unity or indissolubility or sacramental dignity of marriage does not vitiate
matrimonial consent provided that it does not determine the will.

Can. 1100 the knowledge or opinion of the nullity of a marriage does not necessarily exclude matrimonial
consent.

Can. 1101 §1. The internal consent of the mind is presumed to conform to the words and signs used in
celebrating the marriage.
FORM OF THE CELEBRATION

Can. 1108 §1. Only those marriages are valid which are contracted before the local ordinary, pastor, or a priest
or deacon delegated by either of them, who assist, and before two witnesses according to the rules expressed in
the following canons and without prejudice to the exceptions mentioned in cann. ⇒ 144, ⇒ 1112, §1, ⇒ 1116,
and ⇒ 1127, §§1-2.

§2. The person who assists at a marriage is understood to be only that person who is present, asks for
the manifestation of the consent of the contracting parties, and receives it in the name of the Church.

Can. 1109 Unless the local ordinary and pastor have been excommunicated, interdicted, or suspended from
office or declared such through a sentence or decree, by virtue of their office and within the confines of their
territory they assist validly at the marriages not only of their subjects but also of those who are not their subjects
provided that one of them is of the Latin rite.

Can. 1110 By virtue of office, a personal ordinary and a personal pastor assist validly only at marriages where at
least one of the parties is a subject within the confines of their jurisdiction.

Can. 1111 §1. As long as they hold office validly, the local ordinary and the pastor can delegate to priests and
deacons the faculty, even a general one, of assisting at marriages within the limits of their territory.

§2. To be valid, the delegation of the faculty to assist at marriages must be given to specific persons
expressly.

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Can. 1115 Marriages are to be celebrated in a parish where either of the contracting parties has a domicile,
quasidomicile, or month long residence or, if it concerns transients, in the parish where they actually reside. With
the permission of the proper ordinary or proper pastor, marriages can be celebrated elsewhere.

Can. 1118 §1. A marriage between Catholics or between a Catholic party and a non-Catholic baptized party is to
be celebrated in a parish church. It can be celebrated in another church or oratory with the permission of the local
ordinary or pastor.

Can. 1119 outside the case of necessity, the rites prescribed in the liturgical books approved by the Church or
received by legitimate customs are to be observed in the celebration of a marriage.

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EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE

Can. 1134 from a valid marriage there arises between the spouses a bond which by its nature is perpetual and
exclusive. Moreover, a special sacrament strengthens and, as it were, consecrates the spouses in a Christian
marriage for the duties and dignity of their state.

Can. 1135 each spouse has an equal duty and right to those things which belong to the partnership of conjugal
life…

Can. 1136 Parents have the most grave duty and the primary right to take care as best they can for the physical,
social, cultural, moral, and religious education of their offspring.

Can. 1137 the children conceived or born of a valid or putative marriage are legitimate.

Can. 1138 §1. The father is he whom a lawful marriage indicates unless clear evidence proves the contrary.

§2. Children born at least 180 days after the day when the marriage was celebrated or within 300 days
from the day of the dissolution of conjugal life are presumed to be legitimate.

Can. 1139 Illegitimate children are legitimated by the subsequent valid or putative marriage of their parents or by
a rescript of the Holy See.

Can. 1140 As regards canonical effects, legitimated children are equal in all things to legitimate ones unless the
law has expressly provided otherwise.