Putative Marriage

In the civil law. A marriage which is forbidden, but which has been contracted in good faith and ignorance of the impediment on the part of at least one of the contracting parties.

A matriage which is forbidden but which has been contracted in good faith and ignorance of the impediment on the part of at least one of the contracting parties. Three circumstances must concur to constitute this species of marriage. There must be bona fides. One of the parties at least must have been ignorant of the impediment, not only at the time of the marriage, but must also have continued ignorant of it during his or her life, because if he became aware of it he was bound to separate himself from his wife. The marriage must be duly solemnized. The marriage must have been considered lawful in the estimation of the parties or of that party who alleges the bona fide s. A marriage in which these three circumstances concur, although null and void, will have the effect of entitling the wife, if she be in good faith, to enforce the rights of property which would have been competent to her if the marriage had been valid, and of rendering the children of such marriage legitimate. This species of marriage was not recognized by the civil law: it was introduced by the canon law. It is unknown to the law of the United States, and in England and Ireland. In France it has been adopted by the Code Civil, art. 201, 202. In Scotland the

A marriage contracted in good faith and in ignorance (on one or both sides) that impediments exist which render it uniawful. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 556. See In re Hall, 61 App. Div. 266, 70 N. Y. Supp. 410, Smith v. Stnitli, 1 Tex. 628, 46 Am. Dee, 12L

Defined under Putative in Black's Law Dictionary.