Chapter — 1917 Code of Canon Law
Chapter I: Of the Competent Forum
Superseded as law in 1983 — read why this Code still matters. Each canon links to its 1983 counterpart.
Matrimonial causes between baptized persons pertain by proper and exclusive right to the ecclesiastical judge.
Causae matrimoniales inter baptizatos iure proprio et exclusivo ad iudicem ecclesiasticum spectant.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1671
Causes concerning merely civil effects of marriage, if they are conducted principally, pertain to the civil magistrate according to the norm of can. 1016; but if incidentally and accessorily, they can also be known and defined by the ecclesiastical judge from his proper power.
Causae de effectibus matrimonii mere civilibus, si principaliter agantur, pertinent ad civilem magistratum ad normam can. 1016; sed si incidenter et accessorie, possunt etiam a iudice ecclesiastico ex propria potestate cognosci ac definiri.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1672
Matrimonial causes pertaining to those persons of whom in can. 1557, Sec. 1, n. 1, that Sacred Congregation or that Tribunal or that special Commission will exclusively know, to which the Supreme Pontiff has delegated them in each case; causes of dispensation concerning a ratified and non-consummated marriage, the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments; but causes which refer to the Pauline privilege, the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.
Causas matrimoniales ad eos spectantes de quibus in can. 1557, § 1, n. 1, illa Sacra Congregatio vel illud Tribunal aut specialis ea Commissio exclusive cognoscet, cui eas toties quoties Summus Pontifex delegaverit; causas dispensationis super matrimonio rato et non consummato, Sacra Congregatio de disciplina Sacramentorum; causas vero quae referuntur ad privilegium Paulinum, Sacra Congregatio S. Officii.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1698
§ 1. Wherefore no inferior judge can instruct a process in causes of dispensation concerning a ratified marriage unless the Apostolic See has given him faculty.
§ 2. If, however, a competent judge by his own authority has conducted a judgment concerning a null marriage from the head of impotence and from it proof has emerged not of impotence but of a marriage not yet consummated, all the acts are to be transmitted to the Sacred Congregation, which will be able to use them for rendering a sentence concerning the ratified and non-consummated marriage.
§ 1. Quare nullus iudex inferior potest processum in causis dispensationis super rato instruere, nisi Sedes Apostolica facultatem eidem fecerit.
§ 2. Si tamen iudex competens auctoritate propria iudicium peregerit de matrimonio nullo ex capite impotentiae et ex eo, non impotentiae, sed nondum consummati matrimonii emerserit probatio, omnia acta ad Sacram Congregationem transmittantur, quae iis uti poterit ad sententiam super rato et non consummato ferendam.
In other matrimonial causes the competent judge is the judge of the place in which the marriage was celebrated or in which the convened party, or, if one party is non-Catholic, the Catholic party, has domicile or quasi-domicile.
In aliis causis matrimonialibus iudex competens est iudex loci in quo matrimonium celebratum est aut in quo pars conventa vel, si una sit acatholica, pars catholica domicilium vel quasi-domicilium habet.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1673
If a marriage is accused from defect of consent, the judge is to take care before all things that by opportune warnings he induce the party whose consent is affirmed to be lacking to renew consent; if from defect of substantial form or from a diriment impediment which can and usually is dispensed, he is to strive to induce the parties to renew consent in legitimate form or to petition dispensation.
Si matrimonium accusatur ex defectu consensus, curet ante omnia iudex ut monitionibus opportunis partem, cuius consensus deesse affirmatur, ad consensum renovandum inducat; si ex defectu formae substantialis vel ex impedimento dirimenti quod dispensari potest et solet, partes inducere studeat ad consensum in forma legitima renovandum vel ad dispensationem petendam.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1676