Deceit as a cause of marriage invalidity. The doctrine and juridical practice

In the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the legislator included several legal norms meant to guarantee the freedom of choice of the spouse. One of such regulations (norms) can be found in c. 1098, which states that a marriage is invalid in the following situation: A person contracts invalidly who enters into a marriage deceived by malice, perpetrated to obtain consent, concerning some quality of the other partner which by its very nature can gravely disturb the partnership of conjugal life. The aforementioned canon is somewhat of a novelty in relation to the 1917 Code of Canon Law; therefore, the Tribunal of the Roman Rota played an important role in determin-ing its legal content. The decisions made by the Tribunal have not only become an example for lower level tribunals, but they have also pointed to certain threats associated with the understanding and application of c. 1098. Nowadays, the content of this canon encompasses the following elements, the importance of which was clearly emphasized and indicated by the legislator: deceptive action and its goal, error caused by deception, and the quality of a person which by its very nature could severely disrupt the partnership of conjugal life. Furthermore, the error described by the canon must be not only concomitant (error incidens), but also antecedent (error antecedens, causam dans), as the former one does not oblige the other party to enter marriage. It is also important not to confuse an error with ignorance or a condition. Regarding the quality of the other person which by its very nature can gravely dis-turb the partnership of conjugal life (consortium vitae coniugalis), the legislation points to several elements, such as: sterility (c. 1984 § 3 of 1983 CIC), advanced proclivity towards alcohol, drug abuse, pregnancy with another person, severe moral or financial burden arising from a spouse’s current lifestyle, venereal disease, prostitution, heavy sentence of imprison-ment, impotence (different from impotence defined in c. 1084 § of 1983 CIC), religious and moral qualities, disposition towards work and sloth, validity of baptism, performed abortion, bad character, epilepsy, mental disorders, willingness to adapt to a culture different from the culture of a person’s homeland, medical diploma, virginity, false pregnancy, drug addiction, acceptance of the Christian faith, infidelity, paternity towards a nasciturus, and various other diseases