Marriage

a. A special contract of permanent union;

b. Between a man and a woman;

c. Entered into in accordance with law;

d. For the establishment of conjugal and family life.

e. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution;

f. Its nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation,

Exception: Marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage, within the limits
provided by this Code. [Art. 1, FC.]

Marriage is an institution, the maintenance of which the public is deeply interested. It is a relation for
life and the parties cannot terminate it at any shorter period by virtue of any contract they may make.
The reciprocal rights arising from this relation, so long as it continues, are such as the law determines
from time to time, and none other. [Goitia v. Campos Rueda, G.R. No. 11263 (1916)]

1. Requisites

Essential Requisites [Art. 2, FC]

2. Legal capacity of the contracting parties, who must be a male and a female; and

3. Consent (of the contracting parties) freely given in the presence of a solemnizing officer.

Formal Requisites [Art. 3, FC]

1. Authority of solemnizing officer (subject to Art. 35(2), FC)

2. A valid marriage license (subject to exceptions)

3. Marriage ceremony

Effect of Absence or Defect/Irregularity of the Requisites on the Marriage [Art. 4, FC]

Absence Defect or Irregularity

Essential Void Voidable
Formal Void No effect, but makes the party
responsible for such irregularity
civilly, criminally or
administratively liable

Note: The term “defect” is used for essential requisites while “irregularity” is used for formal requisites

Art. 43. The termination of the subsequent marriage referred to in the preceding Article shall produce
the following effects:

(1) The children of the subsequent marriage conceived prior to its termination shall be considered
legitimate;
(2) The absolute community of property or the conjugal partnership, as the case may be, shall be
dissolved and liquidated, but if either spouse contracted said marriage in bad faith, his or her share of
the net profits of the community property or conjugal partnership property shall be forfeited in favor of
the common children or, if there are none, the children of the guilty spouse by a previous marriage or in
default of children, the innocent spouse;

(3) Donations by reason of marriage shall remain valid, except that if the donee contracted the marriage
in bad faith, such donations made to said donee are revoked by operation of law;

(4) The innocent spouse may revoke the designation of the other spouse who acted in bad faith as
beneficiary in any insurance policy, even if such designation be stipulated as irrevocable; and

(5) The spouse who contracted the subsequent marriage in bad faith shall be disqualified to inherit from
the innocent spouse by testate and intestate succession. (n)

ARTICLE 53. No marriage shall be solemnized unless all these requisites are complied
with:

(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties; wsLdum

(2) Their consent, freely given;

(3) Authority of the person performing the marriage; and

(4) A marriage license, except in a marriage of exceptional character (Sec. 1a, art.
3613)

Art. 52. The judgment of annulment or of absolute nullity of the marriage, the partition
and distribution of the properties of the spouses and the delivery of the children’s
presumptive legitimes shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry and registries of
property; otherwise, the same shall not affect third persons. (n)

Art. 53. Either of the former spouses may marry again after compliance with the
requirements of the immediately preceding Article; otherwise, the subsequent marriage
shall be null and void.

Illegal Marriages (RPC)

ARTICLE 349. Bigamy. — The penalty of prisión mayor shall be imposed upon any
person who shall contract a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage
has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared
presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings.

ARTICLE 350. Marriage Contracted Against Provisions of Laws. — The penalty of

prisión correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any
person who, without being included in the provisions of the next preceding article, shall
contract marriage knowing that the requirements of the law have not been complied with
or that the marriage is in disregard of a legal impediment.

If either of the contracting parties shall obtain the consent of the other by means of
violence, intimidation or fraud, he shall be punished by the maximum period of the
penalty provided in the next preceding paragraph.
ARTICLE 351. Premature Marriages. — Any widow who shall marry within three
hundred and one days from the date of the death of her husband, or before having
delivered if she shall have been pregnant at the time of his death, shall be punished by
arresto mayor and fine not exceeding 500 pesos.

The same penalties shall be imposed upon any woman whose marriage shall have
been annulled or dissolved, if she shall marry before her delivery or before the
expiration of the period of three hundred and one days after the legal separation.

ARTICLE 352. Performance of Illegal Marriage Ceremony. — Priests or ministers of any

religious denomination or sect, or civil authorities who shall perform or authorize any
illegal marriage ceremony shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the
marriage law.