The Controversy Surrounding Marriage Law in 20th Century Austria with a Special Emphasis on Constitutional Court Decisions Regarding the ‘Dispensation Marriages
The Controversy Surrounding Marriage Law in 20th Century Austria with a Special Emphasis on Constitutional Court Decisions Regarding the ‘Dispensation Marriages

Summary/Abstract: In Austria, the concept of civil marriage and of a divorce irrespective of the spouses’ religious affiliations had not been introduced earlier than 1938. Previously it aroused a lot of controversy between the Social Democratic and Christian Social Party without any hope of solution. In this situation, the Social Democratic Governors of some Austrian Lands, particularly of the Land of Vienna, applied a section of the General Civil Code to grant a dispensation from the impediment of ligamen (§ 83 ABGB), which meant that they allowed an already married person to remarry. Many juristic problems resulted from this practice, and the attempt of the Austrian Constitutional Court to solve the problem as a “conflict of jurisdiction” made the dispute even worse. In 1938, the Nazi regime introduced the concept of civil marriage, and of divorcibility of marriages also in Austria. The Marriage Act of 1938 has remained valid in Austria to this day.

• Details
• Contents