Case 3. A Promise Confirmed by Oath

Titius, a Catholic, formed a familiarity with Titia, likewise a Catholic. One day, overcome by temptation, Titius wished to induce Titia to sin with him. When Titia resisted, he promised, even under oath, that he would afterwards take her as his wife; having heard this, Titia consented to fornication. After some months, when she became pregnant, Titia began to press for fulfillment of the sworn promise. But since Titius now knows her disposition better and, because of her harshness, has no hope of a happy married life with her, and since his love has also grown cold, he asks a confessor whether he is bound to stand by the sworn promise. Hence it is asked:

1. Do sworn betrothals bind although not written?

2. To what and how do betrothals oblige?

3. How are betrothals dissolved?

4. What is to be said of the case?

1. Does a sworn promise to marry bind when it is not in writing?

An unwritten promise to marry is made null and void by the decree Ne temere, and what is invalid can not be made valid and obligatory by adding an oath — accessorium sequitur principale.

2. To what and how does betrothal bind?

Valid betrothal binds the parties by a serious obligation of justice to fulfil the contract at the time fixed, or if no time was fixed, then at a reasonable time.¹

1 Manual of Moral Theology, vol. ii, 256.

Betrothal may be dissolved by mutual agreement of the betrothed, by the happening or detecting of a circumstance of importance by one of the parties which would have prevented him from making the engagement if it had happened or been known before, by embracing a more perfect state of life, by a dispensation of the Pope for good reason.²

2 Ibid., 260.

4. The case. Neither the promise made by Titius nor the oath which he took are valid or obligatory in themselves. It was a turpis contractus, and moreover it was not in writing, and so it was invalid by the decree Ne temere. The oath as being accessory was also invalid. However, Titius by an invalid promise has induced Titia, who otherwise was unwilling, to commit sin with him, and she is now pregnant. She will be injured for life unless he marries her. He will be justified in offering her money and trying by other means to induce her to free him from his obligation to prevent harm following to her from his action. But if nothing but marriage will satisfy her and safeguard her reputation, Titius will be bound to marry her, unless indeed incompatibility of temper makes a happy marriage utterly hopeless.³

3 How is betrothal dissolved?

3 Bucceroni vol. ii, n. 920.