Published: 2026-03-17

THE LIMITS OF MARITAL CONSENT: POSITIVE ACT OF WILL AND SIMULATION IN CANON LAW

Oliwia Pięta
Civitas et Lex
Section: Canon Law
https://doi.org/10.31648/cetl.11917

Abstract

The article analyses matrimonial consent as the foundation for the creation of a matrimonial bond in canon law and its falsification in the form of simulation. The first part presents the nature of communio vitae and the causal role of consent. It then discusses the simulation of consent – total and partial – as defects affecting the act of will itself, together with their effect in the form of the invalidity of marriage. The evolution of doctrinal approaches and jurisprudence, the relationship between mental illness and the possibility of simulation, as well as typical subjects of exclusion are presented: matrimonium ipsum, essential elements and attributes (unity and indissolubility), and the goods of marriage (bonum fidei, bonum sacramenti, bonum prolis, bonum coniugum) . The text organises the criteria for evidence and the structure of the ‘positive act of will’, pointing to practical procedural consequences.

Keywords:

law, canon law, marriage, positive act of will, simulation

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Citation rules

Pięta, O. (2026). THE LIMITS OF MARITAL CONSENT: POSITIVE ACT OF WILL AND SIMULATION IN CANON LAW. Civitas Et Lex, 49(1), 55–69. https://doi.org/10.31648/cetl.11917

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