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CHAPTER V MATRIMONIAL CONSENT
| 295 |
i |
It is the consent of the parties which makes the marriage, a consent lawfully manifested between two persons whom the law considers capable of marriage. No human authority can take the place of this consent. |
| |
ii |
The matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman, through a pact, set up a fellowship of conjugal life which is perpetual and exclusive and by its nature inclined to the begetting and education of children. |
| 296(new) |
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The following are incapable of contracting marriage:
1)those who are so affected by mental disease or a serious disturbance of the mind that they can not give a matrimonial consent due to the lack of the use of reason;
2)those who labour under a serious defect in their prudential judgment concerning the rights and duties which have to be given and accepted in marriage. |
| 297(new) |
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Those who are unable to undertake the essential obligations of marriage because of a serious psychosexual anomaly are also incapable of contracting marriage. |
| 298 |
i |
For a matrimonial consent it is necessary that the contracting parties should at least not be unaware that marriage is a permanent fellowship between a man and a woman, leading to the procreation of children through some bodily cooperation. |
| |
ii |
Ignorance is not presumed after puberty. |
| 299 |
i |
An error about the person renders the marriage invalid. |
| |
ii |
An error about a quality in the person, even if it is the reason for marrying, does not render the marriage invalid unless it amounts to an error concerning the person. |
| 300(new) |
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He who is deceived into marriage by a trick played to obtain his consent and concerning a certain quality in his partner, liable (by its absence) to disturb seriously the fellowship of their married life, contracts marriage invalidly. |
| 301 |
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An error concerning the unity or indissolubility of marriage, provided it does not influence the will, does not vitate the matrimonial consent. |
| 302 |
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Knowledge of or an opinion about, the nullity of a marriage does not necessarily exclude a matrimonial consent. |
| 303 |
i |
Internal consent is always presumed to be in conformity with the words or signs used in the celebration of marriage. |
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ii |
But if one or other party by a positive act of the will excludes marriage itself or the right to common life or the right to the conjugal act or some essential property of marriage, he contracts marriage invalidly. |
| 304 |
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A marriage is invalid if it is entered into through force or grave fear inflicted unjustly from outside, even though indeliberately, and the party is compelled to choose marriage in order to free himself from this force or fear. |
| 305 |
i |
To contract a valid marriage the parties must be present together either in person or by a procurator. |
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ii |
Couples should express their matrimonial consent verbally; but if they can not speak, they can do so by equivalent signs |
| 306 |
i |
To marry validly through a procurator, it is necessary that there should be a special mandate to contract marriage with a certain person; and that the procurator should be designated by the person so mandating, and should personally fulfill his obligation. |
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ii |
For the mandate to be valid, it should be signed by the person mandating and also by the parish priest or the Ordinary of the place where the mandate is made out, or by a priest delegated by one or other of these, or by at least two witnesses. |
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iii |
If the person mandating can not, or does not know how to write, this fact should be noted in the mandate and another witness added who will also sign the mandate. Otherwise the mandate is invalid. |
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iv |
If the person mandating revokes his mandate or becomes mad before the procurator contracts the marriage in his name, the marriage is invalid, even if either the procurator or the other contracting party is ignorant of tills fact. |
| 307 |
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The parish priest should not assist at a marriage contracted through a procurator unless there is a just cause and there is no doubt about the authenticity of the mandate; and if there is time, he should have the Ordinary's permission. |
| 308 |
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A marriage can be contracted through an interpreter, but the parish priest may not assist at such a marriage unless he is sure of the trustworthiness of the interpreter. |
| 309 |
i |
A marriage can not be validly entered into with a condition concerning the future. |
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ii |
A marriage entered into with a condition concerning the past or the present will be valid or not accordingto whether the condition is fulfilled or not. |
| 310 |
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Even if a marriage was invalid by reason of an impediment or a defect in the form, the consent which was given is presumed to continue until there is proof that it has been revoked. |
CHAPTER VI THE FORM OF CELEBRATION
| 311 |
i |
Only those marriages are valid which are contracted in the assisting presence of the local Ordinary, or the parish priest or a priest or deacon delegated by either of these two, as well as two other witnesses, in accordance with the rules given in the canons which follow, and allowing for the exceptions spoken of in 315, 318 and 319.
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ii |
To assist at a marriage means asking and receiving while present the declaration of consent by the contracting parties. |
| 312 |
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The parish priest and the local Ordinary by reason of their office validly assist at the marriages within their territory not only of their own subjects but also of others, from the day they take up office and as long as they are validly in office. |
| 313 |
i |
The parish priest and the local Ordinary, as long as they are validly in office can delegate power, even in a general way, to priests and deacons to assist at marriages within their territories. |
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ii |
The delegation of power to assist at marriages, in order that it should be valid, ought to be given expressly to definite persons, and if it is a question of general delegation, in writing. |
| 314.(new) |
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A special delegation is only to be granted after provisionlas been made for all that the law determines concerning the proof of freedom to marry. |
| 315.(new) |
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The Church convalidates a marriage by a "sanatio in radice" from the moment of its celebration when the priest or deacon who assists lacks the power to assist, provided the marriage was celebrated in a church or oratory before two witnesses, and the assistant was not forbidden by the ecclesiastical authorities from assisting at the marriage. |
OR ALTERNATIVELY:
| 315 |
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In case of common error, whether in fact or in law, and in case of a positive and probable doubt, whether in fact or in law, the Church supplies the power to assist at a marriage. |
| 316 |
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He who assists at a marriage acts unlawfully unless
1)He has obtained permission from the parish priest of the place of the marriage or the local Ordinary to assist at this marriage, whenever he is using a general delegation; and
2)He is certain of the contracting persons' freedom to marry in accordance with the law. |
| 317.(new) |
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Marriages may be celebrated in the parish where one or other of the contracting persons has a domicile or a ques: ¢w domicile or has lived there for a month; for a just reason it can be celebrated elsewhere with the permission of the parish priest of that place. However the marriage of vagrants who have not even lived one month in a place should be celebrated in the parish where they actually are. |
| 318 |
i |
When there is danger of death, if an assistant in accordance with 312-313 can not be had without serious inconvenience, a marriage is validly and lawfully contracted before witnesses alone. |
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ii |
Outside danger of death, if an assistant in accordance with 312-313 can not be had or approached without serious inconvenience, a marriage is validly and lawfully contracted before witnesses alone, provided it is prudently foreseen that such a state of affairs will last for a month. |
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iii |
In both these cases, if another priest or deacon can be present, let him be called and be present together with the witnesses, the marriage however remaining valid if only witnesses are present. |
| 319 |
i |
The form determined above is to be kept if at least one of the persons contracting the marriage was baptized in the Catholic Church or was received into it and has not defected either formally or notoriously, without prejudice however to ii. |
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ii |
If the Catholic about whom in i contracts a marriage with a non-Catholic of the oriental rite, the canonical form of celebration is to be observed only for liceity; for validity however the presence of a sacred minister is required, other prescriptions of the law being observed. |
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iii |
With regard to a marriage between a Catholic about whom in i, and a non-Catholic, whether baptized or not, the local Ordinaries can dispense in individual cases from the canonical form if there are serious difficulties in observingit, the obligation remaining to have some public form of celebration. It is up to the Episcopal Conference lo fix norms for granting this dispensation lawfully and consistently. |
| 320 |
i |
Outside the case of necessity, the rites prescribed in the liturgical books approved by the Church or allowed by lawful custom should be kept in the celebration of marriage. |
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ii |
The Bishops' Conferences have the power, with the approval of the Holy See, to draw up their own rite for marriage, in accordance with the practices of the local people and adapted to the Christian spirit, preserving however the law that the sacred minister present and assisting at the marriage requests and receives the manifestation of their consent by the persons contracting the marriage. |
| 321 |
i |
When a marriage has been celebrated in a place, the parish priest of the place, or whoever takes his place, even though neither has assisted at the marriage, should note as soon as possible in the marriage register the names of the couples, of the minister who assisted, and of the witnesses; also the place and day of the marriage ceremony in accordance with the manner prescribed by the Episcopal Conference. |
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ii |
Whenever a marriage is contracted according to 318, the sacred minister if he was present at the ceremony, otherwise the witnesses are bound in solidarity with the persons contracting the marriage to notify as soon as possible the parish priest or the Ordinary of the place. |
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iii |
With regard to a marriage contracted with dispensation from the canonical form, the Episcopal Conferences should bring out norms determining a common way in which this marriage may be entered in the marriage and baptismal registers. |
| 322.(new) |
i |
A marriage should also be noted in the baptismal registers which record the baptism of the couple. |
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ii |
If a person contracts marriage in a parish other than the parish of his baptism, the parish priest of the place where the marriage was celebrated should send as soon as possible to the parish priest of the place of baptism notice of the marriage which has taken place; and he should not be content until he has received confirmation of this entry and has added the confirmation to the premarital investigation documents.
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| 323 |
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Whenever a marriage is convalidated in the external forum, or (new)declared null, or lawfully dissolved other than by death, the parish priest of the place where the marriage took place should be informed so that a note may be duly made in his marriage and baptismal registers. |
CHAPTER VII THE CELEBRATION OF SECRET MARRIAGES
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| 324. |
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For a serious and urgent reason the local Ordinary can permit a marriage to be celebrated in secret in accordance with 325-327. |
| 325. |
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Permission for a secret marriage includes: ¢w
1)Omission of the marriage banns prescribed by 250; and
2) The serious obligation on the part of the local Ordinary, the assisting minister, the witnesses, and one spouse as long as the other spouse is not willing, not to reveal the marriage. |
| 326. |
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The obligation of keeping the secret spoken of in 325.ii ceases on the part of the local Ordinary if there is danger of grave scandal or serious harm to the sanctity of marriage through keeping the secret. |
| 327. |
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A marriage which is secretly performed is to be noted only in a special register, to be kept in the secret archive of the Churia spoken of in 379. |
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