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Ligamen orvinculum is, inRoman Catholiccanon law, an existingmarriage tie, which constitutes animpediment to the contracting of a second marriage.[1][2]
Ligamen comes from the Latin word meaning "bond".[1] In Catholic teaching, marriage forms a bond between the parties; this may be considered primarily a metaphysical or ontological bond whichcannot be dissolved, or primarily a moral bond of obligation whichshould not be dissolved. Whether and to what degree the same bond is present innatural marriages as insacramental marriages is a matter of dispute among Catholic theologians.[2]
The existence of a valid marriage at the moment of forming a second implies the invalidity of the latter.[1]
If one of the parties of a divorced couple (the Petitioner) then wishes to enter into a sacramental marriage with a third party and can show that his/her former spouse (the Respondent) was already married to someone else (the Co-Respondent) who was alive at the time of the wedding between the Respondent and the Plaintiff, and that the Church had not declared the first marriage null, Respondent's first marriage is presumed valid. The Petitioner may then file aLigamen request for a determination that Respondent/Petitioner marriage was invalid since the Respondent had an existing prior marriage bond.[3]
Aputative marriage must be presumed valid, and so constituting the impediment ofligamen, until it is proven invalid.
Should the Respondent/Petitioner marriage have been contracted ingood faith, if only by the Partitioner, and yet the marriage is invalid, the parties to it must be separated by the ecclesiastical authorities, and the first marriage re-established. However, the invalid marriage would still be aputative marriage. Once the Co-Respondent dies, the later marriage may be established. Should the Petitioner demand it, the Respondent is then bound to contract marriage validly.[1]
Sincemonogamy and the indissolubility of marriage are founded onnatural law,ligamen is binding on non-Catholics and on the unbaptized. If an unbaptized person living inpolygamy becomes a Christian, he must keep the wife he had first married and release the second, in case the first wife is converted with him. Otherwise, by virtue of the "Pauline privilege", the converted husband may choose one of his wives who allows herself to be baptized.[1]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Sägmüller, Johannes Baptist (1910). "Ligamen". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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