Case 27. Requisites for Marriage

Titius and Caia, Catholics, had duly contracted betrothal and wished to enter marriage within a few weeks. Titius, twenty-two years of age, was numbered among the members of a certain theatrical company who wandered from place to place, and was not accustomed to remain in one place beyond a month. For about one month each year Titius returned to his father’s home in Scotland; at other times he was always wandering with his companions. Caia lived with her parents in Manchester. Titius fixed his residence for three weeks near the city of Liverpool, where he approached Lucius, a priest, and, after relating the aforesaid circumstances, asked him where he could celebrate the marriage and what must first be done according to ecclesiastical and civil laws. Hence it is asked:

1. Where must the marriage be celebrated?

2. How is domicile or quasi-domicile acquired and lost?

3. Where do children under parental authority have domicile?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. Where should marriage be celebrated?

Marriage should be celebrated in the Church, and according to the decree Tametsi of the Council of Trent (XXIV c. 1, De Ref. Matrim.) in parishes where this decree had been published the presence of the proper parish priest of one of the parties and two witnesses were necessary conditions of validity. According to the decree Ne temere, which came into force April 19, 1908, marriage will be valid if it is celebrated before the parish priest of the place; for its lawfulness it should be celebrated before the parish priest of the bride; or by his permission, or that of the parish priest of the other party, or of the ordinary, it may take place before another priest. A parish priest acquires jurisdiction for the purpose of marriage if one of the parties has a domicile in his parish or has lived there for a month.

2. How is a domicile or quasi-domicile acquired and lost?

We saw above, p. 307 how they are acquired. They are lost when the two conditions which are necessary for their acquirement cease to exist— Omnis res per quascumque causas nascitur per easdem dissolvitur (C. 1, De Reg. Juris.).

The third question was answered above, p. 307.

4. The case. Titius retained his parental domicile in Scotland, and so, according to the Tridentine law, the marriage might have taken place before the parish priest of either of the parties, or before any other priest who had been delegated by either of them. According to the decree Ne temere, it should take place at Manchester before the parish priest of the bride. For good reason, it might be celebrated in Scotland before the parish priest of the bridegroom, or before any priest in whose parish Titius had lived for a month. The parish priest of either party, or their ordinaries, might give leave to any other priest to marry them in his parish. The banns should be published in the parish churches of both parties, and whoever marries them should have evidence of their freedom to marry. The requirements of the civil law must also be complied with. For those in force in England, see “ The New Marriage Laws,” by Rev. T. Slater, p. 9, C. T. S.