Section 2. Force or Fear.

637. On the Defect Itself. 1. Matrimony entered because of grave force or fear, inflicted from outside and unjustly in order to contracting, is invalid.¹

a. By the term force is not understood absolute coercion, which can be inflicted only on external acts while the will internally resists, and which therefore removes the voluntary, but conditional or moral coercion, which moves the will to willing under threat or infliction of evil, so that the will consents in order to avoid evil, though otherwise it would not have consented. This coercion, which is the infliction or threat of evil, stands to fear as cause to effect. Therefore force is rightly reduced to fear, and indeed to that fear which diminishes consent but does not remove it.

b. Matrimony entered from grave fear is not declared invalid by the Church for this reason, as if true consent were lacking; but true consent, nevertheless extorted by fear, the Church declares invalid, in order that provision may be made for the full liberty of marriages, without which marriages cannot be happy.

2. That fear dirimently impedes matrimony by ecclesiastical law is certain; whether also by natural law is disputed.

Those who, with Sanchez, Lugo, Schmalzgrueber, Gasparri, Kugler, deny this, argue in this way: this fear does not remove the voluntary, since it does not impede sufficient deliberation; therefore consent is present, which by natural law is required for the value of the matrimonial contract. Moreover, fear unjustly inflicted does not remove liberty more than fear justly inflicted or inflicted by a natural cause; but fear inflicted by a just or natural cause does not dirimently impede matrimony. Those who, with St. Thomas, Pontius, Tamburini, Reiffenstuel, Rosset, Ballerini, Aichner, affirm this, concede that consent is present, which by natural law is required for the value of other contracts; but the matrimonial contract by its nature requires altogether full liberty in contracting. For other contracts entered from fear unjustly inflicted are rescindable; but since matrimony cannot be rescinded, it is required that from the beginning it be invalid. Each opinion is probable, but the latter seems to be preferred. Wherefore only when the cause of fear has been removed can matrimony be entered, or a matrimony invalidly entered be convalidated: for so long as the fear unjustly inflicted endures, the cause of inefficacious consent also endures.

¹ Cn. 1087, 1.

638. Declaration. In order that fear certainly invalidate matrimony, it must be: a. grave; b. unjust; c. inflicted in order to matrimony.

1. Grave; fear not only absolutely but also relatively grave dirimently impedes matrimony; but light fear does not invalidate matrimony.

If it is doubtful whether fear is to be judged grave, one must stand for the value of the matrimony, both from the general principle: in doubt one must stand for the value of the act, and because of reverence for the sacrament.

2. Unjust; fear is said to be unjustly inflicted if someone threatens evil which he has no right to inflict; if someone by a lie pretends that grave evil threatens another, in order that he may extort that person's consent.

Therefore in particular cases one must attend to whether the evil to be inflicted on another is against justice. Thus if a seducer is compelled by a judge, under threat of penalty, to marry the injured person, the fear is unjustly inflicted, because the judge has the right of demanding only either matrimony or dowry. If an uncle threatens his niece that he will deny her a sum of money, unless she marries a determinate young man, which money he had decreed to give in the case of matrimony, the fear is not unjustly inflicted, because the uncle is not held to give the money. If a physician threatens a girl that he is unwilling to devote care to her gravely ill mother unless she enters matrimony with him, the fear is unjustly inflicted if the physician is held to devote care.

3. Inflicted from outside and in order to matrimony. From outside: for fear produced by an internal cause can never be unjust. In order to matrimony: for that fear dirimently impedes matrimony which compels the contracting party to choose matrimony in order to free himself or herself from fear.

Moreover, it makes no difference whether it was inflicted by the other contracting party or by some third person, e.g., by that person's father; whether it is inflicted on the contracting party himself or herself, or on that person's blood relatives, relatives by affinity, etc.

That grave fear, but not inflicted for the sake of extorting consent, does not dirimently impede matrimony is now certain, since the Code says that no other fear invalidates matrimony besides that which compels one to choose matrimony in order to free himself or herself from unjustly inflicted fear, Cn. 1087.

4. Reverential fear of itself is light, but sometimes in certain circumstances it can become grave.¹ Wherefore also reverential fear, if it is grave and unjustly inflicted in order to contracting, can invalidate matrimony.

Article Four.. On the Effects of Matrimony.

Since the effects of the sacrament of matrimony have already been discussed (n. 489), a few things remain to be said concerning the effects of matrimony as contract, some of which refer to the spouses, others to the children.

¹ Cf. De principiis, 15th ed., n. 56.