Argentine Republic
:
Japanese Fairy Tales
The Civil Code of the Argentine Republic shows strong evidences of the
Spanish origin of its precepts. As in the old motherland marriage is
considered as indissoluble except by the death of one of the contracting
parties. However, the Republic does not accept the decrees of the Council
of Trent or the canonical law of the Catholic Church on the subject of
marriage as parts of the law of the land.
As a mat
er of religion the people of Argentina may consider marriage as a
sacrament or divine ordinance, or not, as it pleases their consciences,
but as a matter of law marriage in the Argentine Republic is simply a
civil contract.
ESSENTIALS OF MARRIAGE.--For the validity of marriage there must be the
consent of two contracting parties declared before the public official in
charge of the civil register. The contract can be declared by proxy, but
only with a special authorization from the principal, in which the person
with whom the proxy has to conclude the marriage is clearly described.
IMPEDIMENTS.--The existence of any of the following conditions make a
marriage unlawful:
1. Consanguinity between ascendants and descendants without limitation,
whether legitimate or illegitimate.
2. Consanguinity between brothers and sisters and half brothers and
sisters, legitimate or illegitimate.
3. Affinity in the direct line in all degrees.
4. The woman not being twelve and the man fourteen years of age.
5. The existence of a previous marriage.
6. Where one of the parties has been voluntarily the author of, or the
accomplice in the death of, the former husband or wife of the other.
7. Insanity.
8. A woman over twelve years of age and a man over fourteen, but minors,
and the deaf and dumb who cannot write cannot bind themselves in marriage
without the consent of their legitimate father, or, failing him, without
their mother's consent, or that of their guardian, or of the judicial
consent or permission, in the absence of the above. The civil judge will
decide in cases of disagreement.
9. A guardian, or his descendants under his power, cannot marry minors
under his guardianship so long as the latter lasts.
PRELIMINARIES.--Those who desire to marry must present themselves before
the public official in charge of the civil register, at the domicile of
one of the parties, and verbally declare their intention to marry. Two
witnesses are required who, from their knowledge of the contracting
parties, can declare as to their identity and that they consider them
capable of being married.
CELEBRATION.--The marriage must be celebrated before the official charged
with the civil registry in his office, publicly, the bride and bridegroom,
or their proxies, appearing in person, in the presence of two witnesses
and with the formalities prescribed by law. If either of the contracting
parties are unable to appear at the registry office the marriage may be
celebrated at his (or her) residence.
If the marriage be celebrated in the registry office two witnesses must be
present, and four witnesses if it is celebrated at the domicile of either
of the contracting parties.
In celebrating the marriage the Public Registrar must read to the
contracting parties those portions of the law which define the rights and
obligations of married couples. He must also receive from each the
declaration that they respectively desire to take each other as husband
and wife. He must also formally declare the couple to be man and wife.
There is no legal objection to a religious celebration of marriage
following the civil ceremony, which alone is treated as legally effective.
HUSBAND AND WIFE.--The contracting parties are bound to be mutually
faithful, but the infidelity of the one does not excuse the infidelity of
the other. The one who breaks this obligation can be proceeded against by
the other in the divorce courts without prejudice to what is laid down on
the subject by the Penal Code.
The husband is bound to live in the same house as his wife and to give her
all necessary assistance, protection and support.
If there be no marriage contract to the contrary, the husband is the legal
administrator of all the property belonging to the married couple,
including that of the wife, as well as that which they possessed at
marriage as of that subsequently acquired by them in their own right.
The wife is bound to live with the husband wherever he may fix his
residence.
A wife cannot, without her husband's permission, go to law, make any
contract, or acquire goods, nor alienate or pledge goods without such
permission. The wife may, of course, in certain cases, such as divorce,
acquire judicial authorization for prosecuting or defending a suit in the
courts.
DIVORCE.--The courts of the Argentine Republic grant divorces, but in
effect they only amount to a personal separation of the parties to a
marriage, without the dissolution of the bonds of matrimony.
These so-called divorces are granted for the following causes:
1. Adultery of the husband or wife.
2. Attempt by one of the parties on the life of the other, either
personally or as an accomplice.
3. The instigation of one of the parties by the other to commit adultery
or other crimes.
4. Cruelty.
5. Serious injuries. In estimating the gravity of the injury the judge
will take into consideration the education and social position of the
parties.
6. Such ill-treatment, even if not serious, as renders married life
unsupportable.
7. Wilful and malicious desertion.
EFFECTS OF THE DIVORCE.--If the wife be of age she can exercise all the
usual acts of civil life.
Each of the parties can fix his or her domicile or residence where he or
she thinks fit, even if it be abroad. However, if the party have children
under his or her care, they cannot be taken abroad without the permission
of the court of their domicile.
The innocent party can revoke the donations or advantages which he or she
may have made or promised to the other by the marriage contract, whether
they were to have come into effect during the life of the party or after
his or her death.
Children less than five years old remain in the mother's custody. Those
over that age shall be handed over to the party who, in the opinion of the
judge, is most fitted to educate and care for them.
The husband who may have given cause for divorce must continue to support
the wife if she have not sufficient means of her own. The judge shall
decide the amount and manner in which this shall be done, with due regard
to the circumstances of both parties.
Whichever of the parties may have given cause for divorce will have the
right to require the other, if he or she be able to do so, to provide him
or her with subsistence, if such be absolutely necessary.
DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.--A legal marriage can only be dissolved by the
death of one of the contracting parties.
A marriage which can be dissolved in accordance with the laws of the
country in which it was celebrated cannot be dissolved in the Argentine
Republic except by the death of one of the parties.
The supposed decease of one of the contracting parties, either through
absence or disappearance, will not enable the other to marry again. So
long as the decease of one of the contracting parties, either through
absence or disappearance, has not been absolutely proved, the marriage is
not considered as dissolved.
ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE.--A marriage may be annulled when it was contracted
in violation of some legal impediment, or for want of proper consent.
SECOND OR FURTHER MARRIAGES.--A woman cannot marry again for ten months
after a dissolved or annulled marriage, unless she was left pregnant, in
which case she may marry after having given birth to the child.
PROOF OF MARRIAGE.--A marriage must be proved by certificate, or copy
thereof, of such marriage. If it is impossible to produce the certificate,
or its copy, all other means of proof will be allowed, but these other
proofs will not be admitted unless it is previously established that such
certificate or copy cannot be produced.