Abstract

The ability to distinguish between occult marital impediments (impedimenta occulta) and public marital impediments (impedimenta publica) proves to be necessary for the application of the norms of canon law in the Catholic Church. This distinction is referred to in the provisions of CIC/83 and CCEO concerning: dispensation from marital impediments (can. 1079 § 3 CIC/83; can. 796 § 2 CCEO), noting the fact of granting dispensation (can. 1082 CIC/83; can. 799 CCEO), and the convalidation of marriage (can. 1158-1159 CIC/83; can. 845-846 CCEO).
Noting the lack of unanimity among today’s canonists as regards interpretation of the statutory definition of public and occult impediments provided for in can. 1074 CIC/83 and can. 791 CCEO, the author of this article has endeavored to analyze the development of the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church in this matter in the years 1917-1983, i.e. the period when the norms announced in the Pio-Benedictine Code were in force. This method seems appropriate in view of the fact that in all codes of the Catholic Church promulgated after 1917, the legislator defined public impediment and occult impediment in the same way (Publicum censetur impedimentum, quod probari in foro externo potest; secus est occultum). The conclusions of studies performed for the purpose of this paper also show the reasons for the ambiguous definition of the scope of said impediments in the doctrine and discipline of the Church in the years 1917-1983. (tłum. Małgorzata Wójcik)