A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF DIVORCE AND CHRISTIAN INDISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGE IN CANON AND CIVIL LAW IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Civil divorce and Christian indissolubility are two important concepts in marriage that contrast sharply with each other. While the law on divorce has been lauded for granting an aggrieved party to a marriage the right to sue for dissolution of same under certain conditions, Christian indissolubility maintains that a validly contracted marriage is not to be dissolved against any pretext whatsoever. Nevertheless, divorce has come under attack in recent times due to the alarming rate of its increase in the society. The point of criticism stems from the fact of its negative effects on the family system in the society, and the diminishing societal values resulting from broken homes and single parenting. On the other hand, the doctrine of Indissolubility, which posits that marriage is a permanent bond has also received a lot of criticisms on the ground that it discourages its adherents, mostly Christians, from exercising their right to divorce. The critiques of indissolubility accuse it of creating hardship on the Christian couples who are confronted with the dilemma of the right option to make in taking a pivotal decision in their marriage. The concept of Indissolubility instead, disapproves of divorce. It however, makes provision for grievous cases under which a marriage could be declared null and void. On the point of similarity, it was discovered that a decree of divorce granted by the civil court, and nullity granted by the Ecclesiastical law could only be granted upon request by any of the aggrieved parties to marriage. The aim of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between civil divorce and Christian indissolubility as well as their legal implications, and at the same time respond to the questions regarding the nature and the justifiable grounds for Christian indissolubility. It was also evident from the research, that both systems make use of Court system in their proceedings. This study used a Juridical-comparative method to analyse the two divergent legislations, civil divorce under the Nigerian Legislation and the Christian indissolubility under the Ecclesiastical law. Also analytical and doctrinal research methods were employed. This research work revealed that civil law provides extensive grounds for divorce under the statutory marriage.