Legal regulation and recording of church marriages

Žmogaus teisių ir pagrindinių laisvių apsaugos konvencijos 12 straipsnis nustato, kad vyrai ir moterys, sulaukę santuokinio amžiaus, turi teisę tuoktis ir sukurti šeimą pagal šią teisę reguliuojančius valstybės vidaus įstatymus. Tad mūsų valstybėje santuoka turi būti sudaroma ir šeima kuriama pagal Lietuvos Respublikos teisės aktus. Lietuvoje šeima, kaip valstybės ir visuomenės pagrindas, kuriama sudarant valstybinę arba bažnytinę santuoką. Ją reglamentuoja Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija, Lietuvos Respublikos civilinis kodeksas, Šventojo Sosto ir Lietuvos Respublikos sutartis, Civilinės metrikacijos taisyklės bei kiti su santuoka susiję teisės aktai. Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėsime bažnytinės santuokos registracijos tvarką, jos apskaitą, teisines pasekmes bei su ja susijusias praktines problemas, atsirandančias tiek dėl teisės normų neaiškios formuluotės, netikslios jų interpretacijos, tiek ir dėl teisės spragų, kurios ypač apsunkina efektyvų teisės normų realizavimą ir sukelia ginčų.The 12th article in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms provides that men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right. In Lithuania the family, as the traditional basis of the society and state, is created contracting civil or church marriage (marriage by certificate or marriage by religious license). It is regulated by Constitution of Lithuanian Republic, Civil Code, by the Contract between The Holy See and Lithuanian Republic, Rules of Civil registry and other legal acts that are related with marriage. This article analyzes the order of church marriage registration, its recording, legal consequences and related practical problems, which arise regarding inaccurate formulation, interpretation and gaps of the law standards. The 4th part of 38th article in the Constitution of Lithuanian Republic provides state’s recognition of church marriage registration as well. However, up to the 1st of July, 2001 (i.e. when Civil Code came to force) a number of questions, connected with the church marriage registration, have not been settled yet. It was attempted to correct the drawback in Civil Code articles No. 3.24, 3.25 and 3.304 by elaborating the order of open confessional marriage registration. The analysis of Civil Code norms and court practice allows to draw a conclusion that Civil Code has not established clear and regular church marriage recording system. Church marriage is only registered down at the Civil Registry Institution. Furthermore, Civil Code has not set the implementation of legal outcomes of church marriage, which has been composed breaking the conditions of civil marriage contract. Analyzing the main problems discussed in this article author comes to several conclusions and introduces suggestions (i.e. to establish the marriage register in which state and church would register marriages in order to avoid the violation of monogamy rules and other conditions pertaining to marriage contracts) which could help to solve and eliminate gaps in the law system as they impede the effective realization of legal norms