Chapter — 1917 Code of Canon Law
Chapter III: Of the Right of Accusing a Marriage and of Petitioning Dispensation concerning the Ratified Marriage
Superseded as law in 1983 — read why this Code still matters. Each canon links to its 1983 counterpart.
A collegial tribunal can know or define no matrimonial cause unless a regular accusation or a petition made by law has preceded.
Tribunal collegiale nullam causam matrimonialem cognoscere vel definire potest, nisi regularis accusatio vel iure facta petitio praecesserit.
§ 1. Able to accuse are:
1° Spouses, in all causes of separation and nullity, unless they themselves were the cause of the impediment.
2° The promoter of justice in impediments public by their nature.
§ 2. All others, even blood relatives, do not have the right of accusing marriages, but only of denouncing the nullity of a marriage to the Ordinary or promoter of justice.
§ 1. Habiles ad accusandum sunt:
1° Coniuges, in omnibus causis separationis et nullitatis, nisi ipsi fuerint impedimenti causa;
2° Promotor iustitiae in impedimentis natura sua publicis.
§ 2. Reliqui omnes, etsi consanguinei, non habent ius matrimonia accusandi, sed tantummodo nullitatem matrimonii Ordinario vel promotori iustitiae denuntiandi.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1674
A marriage which, while both spouses are living, has not been accused, after the death of either or both spouses is presumed to have been valid in such a way that proof against this presumption is not admitted, unless a question arises incidentally.
Matrimonium, quod, utroque coniuge vivente, non fuerit accusatum, post mortem alterutrius vel utriusque coniugis ita praesumitur validum fuisse, ut contra hanc praesumptionem non admittatur probatio, nisi incidenter oriatur quaestio.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1675
Spouses alone have the right of petitioning dispensation concerning a ratified and non-consummated marriage.
Soli coniuges ius habent petendi dispensationem super matrimonio rato et non consummato.
1983 Code correlation: can. 1697