Conditional Betrothals

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Side by side within this topic Accidental Elements of Betrothals

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Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Ludovicus Wouters, C.SS.R. — 1 passage

Vol. II, Bk. III, Tr. VIII, Diss. I, Pt. I, Sect. III, Chapter II. On Conditional Betrothals

n. 671.

I. Betrothals under a condition concerning the past or the present are valid or not valid according as the condition has been fulfilled or has not been fulfilled. Those who doubt about the fulfillment are bound to inquire into the truth, and meanwhile to abstain from betrothals and matrimony with a third person.

II. Betrothals under a condition concerning the future are to be judged thus:

If the condition is resolutory,¹ the betrothals are valid from the beginning, but, when the condition has been fulfilled, they are dissolved by that very fact.
If the condition is suspensive and honorable,² the following must be said:

a) While the condition has neither been fulfilled nor definitively failed, the betrothals remain in suspense. Nevertheless the parties are bound to wait and not maliciously to impede, indeed honestly to procure, the event of the condition. Betrothals entered with a third person would be invalid, unless they were made under the condition: "if the prior conditional betrothals definitively fail." The reason is that betrothals of this kind would regard an illicit thing.

b) When the condition has been fulfilled, the betrothals by that very fact become absolute, without prejudice, however, to what was said concerning the condition: "If ecclesiastical authority dispenses" (n. 660). Except the case in which either party legitimately revoked consent before the condition was fulfilled. But what if consent was illegitimately revoked before the condition was fulfilled? In the case, the obligation of entering matrimony certainly remains, not however by force of the betrothals, which cannot be perfected when the will has ceased, but by force of the obligation of repairing the injury (vol. I, n. 848).

c) When the condition has definitively failed, the betrothals fall. Yet one who maliciously impeded the fulfillment of the condition is bound to repair the right of the injured party; and the injured party has a right to true consent.

If the condition is suspensive and base,³ these things hold:

a) While the condition has not yet been fulfilled, the betrothals more probably remain in suspense. Nevertheless each party can and must revoke consent; and when consent has been revoked by either party, the contract altogether vanishes.

b) When the condition has been fulfilled, and consent has not been revoked, the betrothals more probably become absolute (vol. I, n. 849, compared with n. 833).

¹ "I promise you matrimony, but if that matter does not succeed, I shall be free."

² "I promise you matrimony if the parents consent."

³ "I promise you matrimony if you admit intercourse."