Cannon 1592.1 informs us whenever a respondent try summoned however, goes wrong to seem, and you may doesn’t deliver the judge with a sufficient reason behind which inability, the fresh new legal is to declare that individual missing, and instance is to move on to this new definitive judgment.
That it is well-known enough one cannon laws provides detailed recommendations into what a beneficial tribunal is supposed to manage whenever an effective respondent chooses to ignore this new summons in the list above
You don’t need a degree in canon law to appreciate that this is only common sense. After all, there are a couple of parties to a marriage-nullity case-and if one party doesn’t feel like cooperating, that doesn’t mean justice is automatically going to be refuted to the other! It will base its decision on the evidence collected from the petitioner and his witnesses. So what Craig’s pastor and the tribunal official told him is correct. If Craig can show that (for example) his own consent at the time of the wedding was defective-a concept that has been discussed numerous times here in this space, in “Contraception and Marriage Validity” and “Canon Law and Fraudulent ong many others-then the marriage is invalid regardless of whether his ex-wife submits her own evidence or not.
Remember that it takes two people to marry validly. This means that for a valid marriage, both spouses have to get it right-but for an invalid marriage, only one spouse has to get it wrong. If the marriage is invalid due to defective consent on the part of the petitioner and he/she can prove it, then the tribunal can find it has all the evidence it needs to render a decision, without any input from the respondent.
But really even if the petitioner wants to believe the wedding try invalid on account of faulty consent for the latest respondent, it can be you’ll to show that it without having any respondent’s venture. There is certainly multiple witnesses-sometimes even and blood-loved ones of the absent respondent-who’re in a position and you may happy to attest on the tribunal regarding the the latest respondent’s overall conclusion, otherwise certain procedures, offering the tribunal using the research it will require.
And so the wedding tribunal is only going to just do it without any type in of the latest respondent
If for example the respondent can be so vengeful concerning think that low-collaboration commonly stands the brand new petitioner’s case, and work out your/their waiting prolonged for the desired annulment, that’s not fundamentally therefore. Depending on the individual situations, the brand new respondent’s failure to sign up the procedure could actually enable it to be this new courtroom so you can matter a decision much faster. Actually, sporadically brand new non-cooperation regarding good spiteful respondent may even help buttress the brand new petitioner’s says: that is amazing a great petitioner try saying why Mango girls are beautiful that the respondent has actually rational and/or psychological troubles, and that averted him/their own regarding offering complete consent to the marriage. The latest tribunal emails an effective summons to your respondent… which furiously operates new summons as a consequence of a magazine-shredder and you will mails the fresh fragments back again to the brand new tribunal as a result. Create this immature, irrational choices extremely hurt brand new petitioner’s situation?
Let’s say that the marriage tribunal ultimately gives Craig a decree of nullity, which will mean that he is able to marry someone else validly in the Church. So long as his ex-wife really was informed of the case by the tribunal, and knowingly chose not to participate in the proceedings, she will not be able to claim later that her rights were violated and have the decision invalidated as per canon 1620 n. 7. That’s because declining to exercise your rights does not mean you were denied your rights.