of age or over but below twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;
2. That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;
3. That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the other has husband and wife;
4. That the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation, and undue influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;
5. That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable, or
6. That either party was afflicted with a sexually transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.
State is interested in the permanency of the marriage relation, deemed essential to public welfare.
Annullable or voidable marriage is considered valid up to the time it is terminated. Grounds for annulment are only those specified by law (exclusive). Mere non-cohabitation is not a ground for annulment of marriage.
CONSENT: Age of at least 18 years and below 21 years is considered not to possess the degree of maturity to be able to comprehend the consequences and serious responsibilities of marital relations.
UNSOUND MIND:
• There must be such a derangement of the mind to prevent the party from comprehending the nature of the contract and from giving to it his free and intelligent consent. Marriages are not invalidated by mere weakness of mind or dullness of intellect, nor by eccentricities or partial dementia.
• Burden of proof of insanity rests upon the person who alleges insanity, or seeks to avoid an act on account of it, and it devolves upon that person to establish the fact of insanity by a preponderance of evidence. If a previous state of insanity is proved, the burden of proof shifts to the person who asserts that the act was done while the person was sane.
FRAUD: refers to the non-disclosure or concealment of certain circumstance, which materially affect the essence of marriage. (Art. 46)
VITIATED (or IMPAIRED) CONSENT: • Must be of “overt acts”
• Force: (or coercion), sort of violence constituting “duress” of physical or moral nature
• Intimidation: when one of the contracting parties is compelled by a reasonable and well-grounded fear of an imminent and grave evil upon his person or property, or upon those of his spouse, descendants or ascendants, to give his consent (Art. 1335 of Civil Code)
o Degree of intimidation based on: age, sex, condition of person
• Undue influence: when a person takes improper advantage of his power over the will of another, depriving the latter of a reasonable freedom of choice (Art. 1337 of Civil Code)
• Must be proven by preponderance of evidence, which may include the actuations of the parties previous to the marriage
INCAPACITY TO CONSUMMATE:
• Denotes permanent inability on the part of one of the spouses to perform the complete act of sexual intercourse; must exist at the time of the marriage ceremony
be on the part of the husband or wife:
1. May be caused by a physical or structural defect in the anatomy 2. May be due to chronic illness and inhibitions
3. Fears arising in part from psychophysical conditions 4. May be caused by psychogenic causes
Must be continuous and appear to be incurable.
• Impotency, being an abnormal condition, should not be presumed. The presumption is in favor of potency
• Ex.1: incurable nervous disorder on the part of the wife known as vaginismus, which renders sexual coition impossible is good proof of inability to perform the marital act (Vanden Berg v. Vanden Berg)
• Rule of Triennial Cohabitation
o If the wife remains a virgin for at least 3 years from the time the spouses started cohabiting, the husband must show that he was not impotent during the said period and burden will be upon him to overcome the presumption of impotence
• Sterility
o Not an impotency. A sterile person can successfully engage in sexual coition. Sterility does not imply want of power for copulation.
o Not a ground for annulment SEXUALLY TRANSMISSIBLE DISEASE:
• STD in cases of fraud need not be incurable
• For annulment, STD must be found to be serious and incurable
• If the venereal disease were obtained after the marriage ceremony, cannot be a ground for annulment, but can be used as evidence of sexual infidelity as ground for legal separation Grounds which cannot ratify the annullable marriage:
1. Incurable physical incapacity to consummate the marriage; 2. Incurable STD, both existing at the time of the marriage ceremony
Negates an important purpose of marriage: procreate normal, healthy, and upright children.