Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume II › Book III. On the Aids of the Christian Life, or on the Sacraments › Treatise VIII. On Matrimony › Dissertation II. On Matrimony Itself › Part I. On Matrimony in General

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Section V. On the Effects of Matrimony

724.

I. Division of effects. The effects of matrimony are divided:

  1. By reason of connection, into inseparable and separable effects. Inseparable effects are those which spontaneously and necessarily flow from valid matrimony. Such are, for example, that true spouses must be held as such; that there arises between the spouses a bond by its nature perpetual and exclusive (canon 1110); that each spouse from the very beginning of matrimony has an equal right and duty with regard to the acts proper to conjugal life (canon 1111), etc. Separable effects are those which accrue to matrimony accidentally or extrinsically; and they are called ecclesiastical or civil, according as they draw their origin from canon law or from civil law. Ecclesiastical effects are, for example, that, unless something else has been provided by special law, the wife becomes a participant in the status of the husband with regard to canonical effects (canon 1112), the right of ecclesiastical patronage granted to the father of a family, etc. Civil effects are, for example, nobility coming to the other spouse or to offspring, the right of political suffrage belonging to the father of a family.

  2. By reason of the participants, into effects common to each spouse, and effects proper to the husband, to the wife, or to the children.

II. The different effects of matrimony. 1. Effects common to each spouse are:

a) A bond by its nature perpetual and exclusive (canon 1110).

b) An equal right and duty with regard to the acts proper to conjugal life (canon 1111).

c) The obligation of caring according to one's powers for the education of offspring, both religious and moral and physical and civil, and also of providing for their temporal good (canon 1113).

  1. Effects proper to the husband are: marital power over the wife, and the power of the father over the children.

  2. Effects proper to the wife are: subjection to the husband; likewise participation in the status of the husband with regard to canonical effects, unless by special law something else has been provided (canon 1112), for example that she enjoys the domicile of her husband (canon 93, § 1), etc.

  3. The effect especially proper to children is legitimacy; but concerning this and concerning matters akin to it, because they recur so often, we shall speak particularly in the scholion.

The Effects of Marriage; Legitimacy

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