The required confirmation for sentences declaring nullity of marriages. Issues debated in the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law [1977–1981]

In the last few months, especially since last Synod (October 2014), the question regarding the necessity of the confirmation of the sentence when declaring the invalidity marriage has become an area of debate. This article brings together the arguments surrounding this debate during the compilation of the Codex of 1983 – a debate which extended until right up to the final moments of the codification. The opinions of the contributors to the Code were varied and the debate was long and profound. Thirty years later it appears that the problems that were debated then continue to exist today.