Content area
Full Text
RÉSUMÉ - Dans une cause en nullité de mariage, le juge ne fait pas qu'émettre une décision sur le mariage mais doit souvent se prononcer sur la capacité qu'ont les parties de s'engager dans un nouveau mariage. Cette déclaration concernant la préparation suffisante pour un nouveau mariage se fait soit par un vetitum judiciaire ou un vetitum ou monitum administratif. L'A. considère ces modes à la lumière de deux questions: «Le vetitum est-il la conséquence d' une invalidité et donc imposé pour éviter un autre union invalide? Ou le vetitum et le monitum sont-ils des outils pastoraux pour préparer un nouveau mariage? L'A. examine ces distinctions et présente plusieurs recommandations.
Introduction
To render judgments in marriage nullity cases is a ministry to the people of God. Paul VI spoke of the ministry of the ecclesiastical judge as pastoral:
...because it comes to the aid of members of the People of God who find themselves in difficulty. For such people the ecclesiastical judge is the good shepherd consoling those who have been struck down, guiding those who have erred, recognizing the rights of those who have been injured, calumniated, or unjustly humiliated...He must take care not only to safeguard the juridical order but also to heal and educate, thus giving proof of authentic charity. The pastoral exercise of judicial power is medicinal rather than vindictive.1
The judge's role is pastoral because he or she judges each individual case justly. A. Mendonça notes: "A judge's sole responsibility in examining a case brought before him/her is to interpret the facts in light of the law and jurisprudence applicable to it and pronounce a just and equitable decision."2 S. Gherro notes that the ecclesiastical judge is to define the matrimonial status within his restricted area of competence, namely to answer the question posed in the joinder of the issues (can. 1611, 1° and 1677, §3). The judge is not able to make a pronouncement in relation to circumstances that do not address the grounds of nullity alleged.3 However, R. Guiry highlights the fact that more and more the judge must fulfill the role not only of declaring the invalidity of a marriage, but also of assessing whether the parties are ready to enter a new union. Guiry...