Published: 2025-12-27

The forgotten category of involuntary act (actus involuntarius). The value of involuntary act and its implications in canonical matrimonial law

Ginter Dzierżon
Ius Matrimoniale
Section: Rozprawy i artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/im.2025.36.02.01

Abstract

In the presented study, the author’s attention is drawn to the category of involuntary act (actus involuntarius), which is absent from contemporary canon law but was the subject of attention of some medieval thinkers (Abelard, St. Thomas). The main research objective of the study was, on the one hand, the question of the implications of this category in the functioning of canonical matrimonial law, and on the other hand, the answer to the key question: does the reference to the category of an involuntary act undermine the theory of a legal act applied in matrimonial law? By presenting the achievements of medical and psychological sciences on the human brain, the author has shown that the results of research indicate the existence of acts determining human actions that remain outside the sphere of volition. In his opinion, the assumption of the existence of such acts does not, however, undermine the theory of the legal act.

By examining the defects of marital consent associated with the functioning of reason (simulation, error, lack the sufficient use of reason, a grave defect of discretion of judgment), the author took the position that in all these hypotheses, the lack of will results in the non-existence of consent, which translates into the non-existence of marriage (matrimonium inexistens).

Keywords:

untary act, free vill, reason, legal act theory, canonical marriage

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Dzierżon, G. (2025). The forgotten category of involuntary act (actus involuntarius). The value of involuntary act and its implications in canonical matrimonial law. Ius Matrimoniale, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.21697/im.2025.36.02.01

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