Civil Code Book II Title IV Chapter 3. Conclusion of marriage

Chapter 3. Conclusion of marriage

Art. 577.- Various kinds of marriages.

(1)    Marriage may be contracted before an officer of civil status.

(2)    Marriages contracted according to the religion of the parties or to local custom shall also be valid under this Code.

Art. 578.- Civil marriage.

A civil marriage shall take place when a man and a woman have appeared before the officer of civil status for the purpose of contracting marriage and the officer of civil status received their respective consent.

Art. 579.- Religious marriage.

A religious marriage shall take place when a man and a woman have performed such acts or rites as are deemed to constitute a valid marriage by their religion or the religion of one of them.

Art. 580.- Marriage according to custom.

A customary marriage shall take place when a man and  a woman perform such rites as constitute a permanent union between such man and woman under the rules of the community too which they belong or to which one of them belongs.

Section  1. Conditions common to all forms of marriage

Art. 581.- Age.

(1)    A man who has not attained the full age of eighteen years and a woman who has not attained the full age of fifteen years may not contract marriage.

(2)    His Majesty the Emperor of Ethiopia or a person specially appointed by Him for the purpose may, for good cause, grant dispensations

Art. 582.- Consanguinity.

Marriage between persons related by consanguinity is prohibited.

Art. 583.- Affinity.

Marriage between persons related by affinity is prohibited.

Art. 584.- Filiation not established legally.

The existence of a bond of natural filiation which is commonly known is sufficient to render applicable the impediments to marriage referred to in Art. 582 and 583 notwithstanding that the filiation is not established legally.

Art. 585.- Bigamy.

A person may not contract marriage so long as he is bound by the bounds of a preceding marriage.

Art. 586.- Representation not allowed.

(1)    Each of the spouses shall personally consent to the marriage at the time of its celebration.

(2)    Representation shall not be allowed unless a dispensation be given for good cause by the Advocate General.

Art. 587.- Marriage of minors.

The conditions on which a minor may contract marriage are laid down in the Title of this Code relating to “Capacity of Persons” (Art. 309).

Art. 588.- Judicially interdicted persons.

The conditions on which a judicially interdicted person may contract marriage are laid down in the Title of this Code relating to “Capacity of Persons” (Art. 369).

Art. 589.- Violence.

(1)    No consent shall be valid which has been extorted by violence.

(2)    Violence shall be deemed to have occurred where consent it given only with a view to protecting  the person who has given it, or one of his ascendants or one of his descendants, form a menace of a grave and imminent evil.

(3)    Violence shall not be deemed to have occurred where consent is prompted by reverential fear towards an ascendant or another person.

Art. 590.- Error of substance.-1. Principle.

Consent shall be vitiated where it was given only as a result of an error of substance of one of the spouses on the person of his spouse.

Art. 591.- 2.  Restrictive enumeration.

The following errors only shall be considered as errors of substance;

(a)    error on the identity of the spouse, who is not the person with whom a person intended  to contract marriage;

(b)    error on the religion of the spouse, who does not belong to the same faith as the spouse who is the victim of the error;

(c)    error on the state of health or the bodily conformation of the spouse,  who  is affected by leprosy or who does not have the requisite organs  for the consummation of the marriage.

Art. 592.- Opposition.- 1. By whom made.

(1)    Opposition to the marriage may be made by the person mentioned in Art. 562 or by the guardian of the spouse who is a minor.

(2)    Opposition may also be made by the public prosecutor.

(3)    Opposition  may be made by no other person.

Art. 593.- 2. Time and form

(1)    Opposition shall be made at the latest when the marriage is celebrated.

(2)    It shall be subject to no special form.

Art. 594.- 3. Withdrawal of opposition.

(1)    The withdrawal of the opposition to the marriage may be required by either of the spouses notwithstanding that he or she is a minor.

(2)    No appeal shall lie against the opposition made by the father for the  mother of one of the future spouses, when the person to whose marriage  opposition is made  is under twenty years of age.

Art. 595.- 4. Impossibility

(1)    No opposition may be made to  marriage, when the withdrawal of a previous opposition made to such marriage has been ordered by the court.

(2)    No opposition may be made, except by the public prosecutor, to the marriage of a person who has been previously married.

Art. 596.- Period  of widowhood.

(1)    A woman may not remarry unless one hundred and eighty days have elapsed since he dissolution of a previous marriage or irregular union.

(2)    The provisions  of sub-art.(1) shall not apply where the woman gives birth to a child after the dissolution of such union.

(3)    The court may dispense a woman form observing a period of widowhood.

Section 2. Civil marriage

Art. 597.- Competent officer of civil  status.

Civil marriages shall be  celebrated before the officer of civil status of the commune where one of the souses, or one of his parents or ascendants, has his residence established by continuously living there for not  less than six months prior to the date of the marriage.

Art. 598.- Undertaking not marry.

(1)    Any undertaking made by an person not to marry or not to remarry shall be of no effect.

(2)    The officer of civil status shall not take it into consideration.

Art. 599.- Request for celebration of marriage,

The future spouses shall inform not less than one week in advance the officer of civil status of their intention to contract marriage.

Art. 600.- Refusal to celebrate marriage.

(1)    The officer off civil status shall ascertain that the conditions of marriage are satisfied.

(2)    He shall refuse to celebrate the marriage if he finds or has good reasons to believe that there exists an obstacle to the marriage.

(3)    In such case, the officer of civil status shall give the reason of his refusal to the future spouses.

Art. 601.- Appeal against refusal.

(1)    Either of the spouses may appeal against a refusal under Art. 600 to the court which shall decide whether such refusal is justified or not.

(2)    Where the court finds the refusal of the officer of civil status to be unjustified, such officer may not refuse to celebrate the marriage for any reason whatever.

Art. 602.- Fixing date of marriage.

The exact date of the celebration of the marriage shall be fixed by agreement between the future spouses and officer of civil status.

Art. 603.- Publicity of marriage.

Marriage shall be celebrated publicity, in the presence of the future spouses and of two witnesses for each of the future spouses.

Art. 604.- Formalities of celebration.

(1)    The future spouses and  the witnesses shall taken an oath that, to their knowledge, there exists no obstacle to the marriage.

(2)    The officer of civil status shall receive from each of the future spouses, one after the other, a declaration that they want to take one another as husband and wife.

(3)    In the name of the law, he shall pronounce them united n marriages and shall immediately draw  up the record of marriage, if he is qualified to do so.

Section 3. Other marriages

Art. 605.- Religious marriage.

(1)    The conditions on which a religious marriage may be celebrated and the formalities of such celebration shall be as prescribed by the religion  of the parties concerned.

(2)    The provisions of this Code relating to the conditions common  to all forms of marriage shall be complied with in all cases (Art. 581-596).

(3)    A record of marriage shall be drawn up in accordance with the provisions of the Title of this  Code relating to “Physical persons” (Art. 47-120)

Art. 6-6.- Marriage according to custom.

(1)    The conditions on which a marriage according to custom may be celebrated and the formalities of such celebration shall be as prescribed by local custom.

(2)    The provisions of this Code  relating to the conditions common to all forms of marriage shall be complied within al cases (Art. 581-596).

(3)    A record of marriage shall be drawn up in accordance wit the provisions of the Title of this Code relating to “Physical persons” (Art. 47-120)