Force and Grave Fear Flashcards
Which Canon relates to the right to be free from coercion for all of the Christian faithful?
Can 219
Marriage is invalid if _______ ) (can 1103)
Force or grave fear from without.
Can force and grave fear be applied to the marriage of non catholics?
Affirmatively (authentic interpretation)
what two fears are implied in Canon 1103
Common Fear
Reverential fear
Three Central Elements of force and grave fear
Gravity of the threat and the fear
Threat is inflicted “ab extrinseco”
Inevitability of marriage
Explain Gravity of threat and fear
this is a threat that normally would intimidate a person
Both Objective and subjective element.
Explain why the threat must be ab extrinseco
Basically it can’t be forcing one self, it always involves another person.
“In the first place, invalidating fear must be inflicted from without, that is, by an external and free cause, namely, another person, by a person distinct from the one suffering the fear, as the common and constant jurisprudence teaches.”
It must be “inflicted by another person, not by the one marrying on herself. Therefore, fear cannot vitiate consent when it arises out of the character of the one suffering it or from self-suggestion, self-imagination or fantasy.”
Explain Inevitability of marriage
marriage is unavoidable
Marriage is means of escape
what is difference between lack of discretion of judgment and grave fear
the coercion is from within, vs without.
what is reverential fear?
It is from a third party,
marriage is unavoidable to escape from fear.
A relationship of subjection, like. a parent child relationship.
The gravity of the threat is relative to the relationship of subjection between one inflicting fear and the one suffering fear.
“Reverential fear is distinguished from common fear whether by reason of origin or cause, since it is founded between the one inflicting and the one suffering the fear in the particular bond of blood, necessity or authority; or by reason of the evil, inasmuch as the evil which is feared is identified by the indignation of those close or of superiors; or finally by reason of the means, since threats are not common for bending the contrary will, but exhortations or pleas and burdensome requests are used.”
Means of Proof for force and grave fear
Declaration of the one coerced
Confession of the one inflicting force or grave fear
Testimony of witnesses
circumstances
direct proof of force and fear?
The fact of coercion
indirect proof of force and fear
aversion of the one forced
“It cannot be understood how an intimate communion of life and love, directed toward obtaining the good of the spouses and the other ends of marriage, can arise when one is forced to live in a marital union with an unloved person, toward whom he deeply experiences an aversion to enter marriage, for the sole reason that he sees no other remedy for fleeing the grave evil that weighs upon him.”
“Nevertheless, that aversion in the mind of the contracting party does not necessarily pertain to the very person with whom one is unjustly compelled to celebrate the sacred covenant. For a will entirely contrary to contracting marriage can exist even without aversion toward the very person imposed on someone; rather, it suffices that the contracting party be against the celebration of marriage with this person.”
