IMPEDIMENTO. In Spanish Law. A prohibition to contract marriage, esta blished by law between certain persons.
2. The disabilities arising from this cause are twofold, viz. :— ./Utpedimento Dirimente.—Such disabilities as ren der the marriage null, although contracted with the usual legal solemnities. The disabilities arising from this source are enumerated in the following Latin verses "Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimes, Cultus disparitla, vie, ordo, ligamen, honestas, Si sis affinis, si forte ceire nequibie, Si parochi et duplicie desit prsesentia testis, Raptme sit mulier, nec parti reddita tuts, Hose facienda vetant connubia, facts retraetant." Among these impediments, some are absolute, others relative. The former cannot be cured, and render the marriage radically null; others may be removed by previous dispensation.
3. In Spain, marriage is regarded in the twofold aspect of a civil and a religious contract. Hence the disabilities are of two kinds, viz.: those cre ated by the local law and those imposed by the church.
In the earlier ages of the church, the emperors prohibited certain marriages : thus, Theodosius the Great forbade marriages between cousins-german ; Justinian, between spiritual relations; Valentinian, Valens, Theodosius, and Areaditts, between persona of different religions.
The Catholic church adopted and extended the disabilities thus created, and by the third canon at the twenty-fourth session of the Council of Trent, the church reserved to itself the power of dispen sation. As the Council of Trent did not determine,
being divided, who had the power of granting dis pensation, it is accorded in Italy to the pope, and in France and Spain, with few exceptions, to the bishops. The dispositions of the Council of Trent being in force in Spain (see Schmidt, Civ. Law of Spain. p. 6, note a), the ecclesiastical authority is alone invested with this power in Spain.
For the eases in which it may be granted, see Schmidt, Civ. Law, c. 2, a. 14.
4. Impedimenta, Impediente, or Prohibitivo.— Such disabilities as impede the contracting of a marriage, but do not annul it when contracted.
Anciently, the impediments expressed in the fol lowing Latin verses were of this nature: " Incestus, raptus, eponsalia, more muliebris, Susceptus propria sobolis, more presbyterialie, Vel si pceniteat solemniter, ant monialem Accipiat quisquam, votum simplex, catechiemue, Ecclettite vetitum, nec non tempus feriarum, Impediuut Seri, pernaittunt facts. tcmeri." For the effects of these impediments, see Escriche, Diet. Raz. Impedimente Prohibitivo.