Las recientes reformas legales en el sistema matrimonial español

Abstract

The subject of this article is the recent change in the law regarding the celebration and dissolution of confessional marriages. Since July 2015, different kinds of marriages have been permitted in Spain in order to honour constitutional principles such as religious freedom, equality and pluralism. People in Spain may enter into civil marriage via a civil or religious process, or into canonical marriage in canonical form. Regardless of the marriage process, identical civil rights are granted on the celebration of the marriage. The religious processes are also substantially affected by the Voluntary Jurisdiction Act, amendments to the Civil Code and the Civil Registration Act. The final result is that Spanish people are allowed to be married by the rite of other religions or churches, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, the Orthodox Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (informally, the Mormon Church). Spanish law likewise fully recognizes canonical marriage, and the complete regulation thereof by ecclesiastical laws, including in relation to absolution. However, the procedures whereby civil rights are granted to ecclesiastical decisions have been profoundly altered by the recent changes in the law.