The Concept of Matrimonial Consent in Can. 1057 CIC 1983

Abstract

The article is devoted to matrimonial consent as described in Can. 1057 CIC/83, which has replaced the former Can. 1081 CIC/17. The regulation found in this canon emphasizes the importance of matrimonial consent and constitutes the basis for all reasons for the nullification of marriage. The analyzed norm, describing matrimonial consent in the positive aspect, was formulated in the personalistic spirit and adapted to Vatican II's teachings. Can. 1057 CIC/83 was placed among the norms introducing the De matrimonio of CIC/83 part, which resulted in ordering the vision of marriage in CIC/83. The studies on the normative content of Can. 1057 §1, CIC/83, focus on matrimonial consent, which establishes the matrimonial bond and is the only efficient cause of marriage, being a bilateral consensual contract and a sacrament for those baptized. The article discusses legal requirements assuring that consent will result in contracting a valid marriage. The article explains in detail the norm, according to which a defective matrimonial consent cannot be supplemented or replaced by another legal act. The article analyses the object of matrimonial consent in Can. 1057 §2, CIC/83, which was harmonized with the definition of marriage in Can. 1055 CIC/83. Ius in corpus is no longer such an object (as it narrows marriage to a communion finding fulfillment in the sexual and procreative sphere) but rather the parties to the contract, who give themselves to one another in an analogous sense (material object) and the communion for their entire life, in all its dimensions (formal object).