Annulment and nullity of marriage are two institutions that function in two separate and independent legal systems. Despite some similarities, they cannot be used interchangeably. The differences between the annulment and declaring nullityof marriage follow mainly from the fact that the canonical marriage between baptized persons is a sacrament, a lifelong and indissoluble bond. For this reason, once validly contracted, it cannot be annulled or dissolved by divorce, but only bythe death of a spouse or a dispensation from an unconsummated marriage and the privilege of faith. In the case when marriage is contracted, despite the existence of impediments to marriage, the ecclesiastical tribunal, after completing the relevant proceedings, declares its nullity whereby this judgment is of a declarative nature. In the case of annulment of marriage, the legislator provided for some restriction as to the persons authorized to file a claim, and it also listed the situations in which, even though marriage was contracted in breach of law, its annulment is not possible. Therefore, convalidation by force of law is permissible. Such validation and such restrictions have not been provided by the ecclesiastical legislator, although the convalidation of marriage is possible as long as the matrimonial consent continues and some additional conditions have been satisfied. The judgment regarding the annulment of marriage is constitutive, although the effects of annulment have retroactive effects, whereby the legislator stated that for certain relationships, the rules of divorce shall be applicable. Both in the state and canonical orders, there are three groups of reasons that are the basis for annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage. These are impediments to marriage, defects to the declarations of intention of the spousesand defects to the mandate to contract marriage. The individual reasons have been briefly discussed to present the differences in their understanding under canon law and state law.
The aim of this article is to outline a new research perspective, allowing for an in-depth reflection on the condition of contemporary marriages and families. Of course, the problem itself is not new, but in order to analyse it, we propose to adopt a perspective which has not been present in the literature so far and which will consist in analysing the condition of the institution of marriage through the prism of the process of declaring a marriage null and void, i.e., the canonical procedure in force in the Catholic Church. The proposed research perspective is based on an interdisciplinary approach, taking into account the broad context in which, in our opinion, the functioning of the contemporary institution of marriage should be considered. In this approach we try to integrate sociological and demographic premises and inspirations with legal, theological and canonical premises, which is a significant novelty. The integration of these approaches will make it possible to consider the problem of the break-up of the marital bond in a different way than has been presented so far. Thanks to this, it is possible to make a comprehensive diagnosis of the situation of marriages in moments of crisis and to capture those aspects of spiritual and social life which have not yet been taken into account in the research, and which play a particularly important role in initiating proceedings to declare a marriage null and void.
The study of the condition of marriages and reasons for failed marriages by analyzing the motives for bringing annulment actions is a novelty in the literature. The paper presents the results of such research conducted by the authors. These motives are significantly dependent on the gender of the respondents, which was shown.
PL
Badanie kondycji małżeństw oraz przyczyn nieudanych związków małżeńskich poprzez analizę pobudek wnoszenia pozwów o orzeczenie nieważności małżeństwa stanowi novum w literaturze przedmiotu. Artykuł zawiera prezentację wyników takich właśnie badań przeprowadzonych przez autorów. Wykazano, że pobudki te są w znacznym stopniu zależne od płci badanych.
The article shows individual marital processes which can be carried out according to the norms of the Code of Canon Law. The author describes matrimonium non existens, nullity process, processus brevior, separation in marriage, a trial in case of the death of a spouse, matrimonium ratum et non consummatum, marriage dissolution in favorem fidei. The relationship between church courts and state courts in matrimonial matters is also described. The analyses included in the thesis show that regardless of the existence of many similarities, the described procedures are two different proceedings, whose aim was to describe interactions between spouses.
Unieważnienie małżeństwa oraz stwierdzenie nieważności małżeństwa są instytucjami prawa w dwóch odrębnych porządkach prawnych, które u swych podstaw mają podobne założenia. Celem obu procesów jest wykazanie, czy dane małżeństwo jest ważnie zawarte. W zakresie podobieństw analogię można wykazać odnośnie do przesłanek do wniesienia powództwa o unieważnienie małżeństwa lub skargi powodowej o stwierdzenie nieważności małżeństwa, legitymacji procesowej, terminu na wniesienie powództwa lub skargi powodowej oraz w zakresie skutków wyroku unieważniającego małżeństwo lub stwierdzającego nieważność małżeństwa. W zakresie dwóch pierwszych przesłanek do wszczęcia procesu należy wyszczególnić: przeszkody małżeńskie oraz wady oświadczenia woli. W zakresie przeszkód małżeńskich ustawodawca kościelny wykazuje szerszy katalog przeszkód, podobnie w zakresie wad oświadczeń woli. Trzecia kategoria przesłanek jest w dwóch procesach odrębna. W prawie cywilnym jest to wadliwe pełnomocnictwo, w prawie kanonicznym – brak formy kanonicznej. Należy jednak wskazać, iż pomimo tych rozbieżności treść przesłanek jest w wielu miejscach analogiczna, jedynie inaczej usystematyzowana przez ustawodawcę. Precyzyjne określenie różnic jest istotne, ponieważ pomaga usystematyzować nabytą wiedzę oraz precyzyjnie wskazywać cechy charakterystyczne dwóch odrębnych procesów, które błędnie uważane są za tożsame.
EN
Annulment and declaration of nullity of marriage are legal institutions in two separate legal orders but based on similar premises. The purpose of both processes is to show whether a given marriage was validly concluded. As regards similarities, analogy can be shown in the grounds for an application for marriage annulment or an application for a declaration of marriage nullity, locus standi, time limit for bringing an action (or libellus), and regarding the consequences of a judgment annulling a marriage or declaring nullity of a marriage. As regards the first two categories of criteria for the initiation of a process, the following should be specified: marital impediments and defects in the declaration of will. With respect to the former, the church legislator provides for a broader catalogue of impediments, just like in the case of defective declarations of will. The third category specifies different conditions for two processes. Under civil law, this would be defective power of attorney, while under canon law – the lack of the canonical form. However, it should be pointed out that despite these discrepancies, the content of these criteria is in many respects analogous, yet differently systematised by the legislator. The precise determination of differences is important since it helps to systematize the acquired knowledge and precisely point out the characteristics of two separate processes, which are mistakenly regarded as identical.
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