Chapter V: Concerning Diriment Impediments

96. • I. Which they are.

a) In the law of the Code there are numbered thirteen impediments properly so called, namely those which constitute true inabilities for entering matrimony validly, and they are: age, impotence, bond, disparity of worship, sacred order, solemn vow, raptus, crime, consanguinity, affinity, public honesty, spiritual kinship, legal kinship.

b) Error, condition, fear, and clandestinity, which formerly were listed among the impediments, in the new law are rightly considered as vices or defects which are opposed to consent or to form.

97. • II. Division.

a) The Code of Canon Law has introduced a distinction between impediments of a major grade and impediments of a minor grade. Practically, that distinction refers only to diriment impediments.

b) Minor impediments are: consanguinity in the third degree of the collateral line, affinity in the second degree of the collateral line, public honesty in the second degree, spiritual kinship, and crime from adultery with a promise or attempted matrimony.

All the others are major impediments. (Can. 1042.)

c) The practical usefulness of this distinction lies in this: "a dispensation granted from a minor impediment is rendered invalid by no vice either of obreption or of subreption, even if the final cause set forth in the petitions was false." (Can. 1054.)