Punishing the Conclusion of an Invalid Marriage in Poland in 1918–1932
Punishing the Conclusion of an Invalid Marriage in Poland in 1918–1932

Summary/Abstract: The goal of the article is to provide on the theoretical area, above all, a legal historical and a legal comparative analyzes of the criminal-law aspects of contracting marriage in an unlawful manner. As an institution, marriage invalidity functioned both in civil law and criminal law during the interwar period. The role of the criminal law of that time was to enforce the rules following from civil law, so the legislator provided for a criminal sanction against those who violated legally protected interests. Protecting the permanence of marriage was in the interest of not only the individual but also the state. At that time marriage was becoming the basis of the family, the fundamental social structure, upon which society and the state were being built. The family was in charge of public peace and morals, therefore any violation of the permanence and indissolubility of marriage union was tantamount to attacking the rules of social intercourse, which in turn led to an erosion of statehood. Given the foregoing, this article discusses the prerequisites under the marriage law for a marriage to be challengeable, as well as penal sanctions against culprits responsible for the conclusion of a statutorily invalid marriage. The choice of the topic was dictated by the fact that the literature of the subject lacks studies of this issue.

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