Matrimonium per procura in the 1917 and 1983 Codes of Canon Law – a Comparative Outline

Abstract

Being an act of will through which a man and a woman offer themselves to each other and accept each other to make an irrevocable union, the marriage consent in the Catholic Church has to be expressed in a canonical form and in a proper manner. Such a consent is expressed by both nupturients at the same time and place and – in princi­ple – expressed personally by the two people entering the matrimony. However, as hi­story shows, marriage vows have been made by proxy “since forever”. Contracting a marriage between two absent people (inter absentes), i.e. between prospective spou­ses who – for some reason – could not take part in the ceremony in person – has a long tradition, although its reception has varied from one society and religion to another and has undergone various modifications over time. In the Catholic Church, matrimo­nium per procura was codified by the 1917 Code of Canon Law and then in the 1983 Code of Canon Law.

Keywords

• Kodeks Prawa Kanonicznego z 1917 roku
• Kodeks Prawa Kanonicznego z 1983 roku
• prawo kościelne
• zawarcie małżeństwa
• pełnomocnictwo