Remarriage after divorce

[garibaldired]

I'm hoping someone who is more knowledgeable than me is able to help me here.

I have a couple who had an irregular marriage in 1922 and who divorced in 1930.
The woman remarried, as a divorcee, later that year in the Roman Catholic church.
Was it the fact that it had been an irregular marriage which made that possible?

Best wishes,
Meg

[Hibee]

Would they divorce, after an irregular marriage, rather than just separate?

Hibee

[AnneM]

They would have to divorce as the marriage though irregular is legal and imposes exactly the same rights and responsibilities as marriage constituted in a more regular marriage.

I would think that the Catholic Church would probably not recognise the first marriage as it was not solemnized in the Catholic Church and would therefore consider the person free to marry in the eyes of God. Otherwise perhaps the Church annulled the marriage on the grounds that having not undertaken it in a religious manner it was clear that the person was not serious about taking on the married state with the full obligations imposed by the church.

Anne

[garibaldired]

I would think that the Catholic Church would probably not recognise the first marriage as it was not solemnized in the Catholic Church and would therefore consider the person free to marry in the eyes of God.

Yes that was what I thought. I wasn't doubting the legality of an irregular marriage just that it was not a religious rite.
It states a divorce, not an annulment on the RCE, and on the second marriage extract.
Thanks very much, Anne.

Am I likely to get much more information from the divorce papers at NAS?

Best wishes,
Meg

[AnneM]

Not sure about divorce papers. I've never had cause to look at them myself but would guess that they'd be quite instructive.

Even now, the Catholic church sometimes annuls marriages where there is also a civil divorce. That's a different thing from an annulment through the courts. A church annulment allows remarriage in Church. Remarkably, it can even be granted where there are children of the marriage. I once worked with a very nice lady who was one of the church's commissioners who investigated whether a marriage should be annulled under church law. I, who come from a different tradition, struggled with the concept but I can see how it mitigated some of the perceived harshness of church doctrine.

Anne

[garibaldired]

I, who come from a different tradition, struggled with the concept but I can see how it mitigated some of the perceived harshness of church doctrine.

I too have struggled with this concept but hadn't thought of it like that before.
Thanks for your insights, Anne.

Best wishes,
Meg

[Currie]

Hello All,

There’s lots of interesting information on all Matters Marriage in “A Handbook of Husband and Wife according to the Law of Scotland”, published in 1893, complete with an excellent table of contents at the front. http://www.archive.org/stream/cihm_1077 ... 1/mode/2up

All the best,
Alan

[garibaldired]

Goodness me, Alan, there's plenty there to keep me well occupied for a long time!

Thanks very much.
Best wishes,
Meg