On the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty, however, and at the beginning of
the reign of Alfonso XII, a royal decree of February 9, 1875, a copy of
which was sent to the Department in Mr. Cushing’s No. 285, endowed the
ecclesiastical marriage with its former validity by giving it the benefit of
all the laws that had existed in regard to it previous to the introduction
of the above-mentioned law of 1870. The latter, however, was, by article 6
of this decree, left applicable to those persons who chose to avail
themselves of the civil form only.
The decree of 1875, therefore, while it reaffirmed the validity of the
ecclesiastical did not in any way impair the binding force of the civil
marriage. In Spain both forms are legal, and the object of the annexed royal
decree is to place the provinces upon the same footing as the peninsula, or,
in other words, to give to the civil marriage in the Antilles the validity
heretofore exclusively possessed by the church ceremony.
[Inclosure in No.
152.—Translation.]
Ministry of ultramar.—Decree relative to marriage in
Cuba and Porto Rico.
preamble.
Madam: The law of civil marriage of June 18,
1870, and the royal decree of February 9, 1875, which modified it/had
for their object the development of the precept of the constitution of
the state in what concerns this substantial point of liberty of
conscience.
None of these regulations were applied to the islands of Cuba and Porto
Rico, perhaps for the reason that the fundamental law was not expressly
in force there; but from the moment that by the royal decree of April 7,
1881, and of January 8, 1884, respectively, the constitution of the
Spanish Monarchy and the law of civil registration were explicitly
ordered to be promulgated in those provinces, the aforesaid application
was the logical and inflexible consequence, as a development of article
11 of the constitution, in order that no Spaniard or foreigner residing
in the Antilles, whatever the religion he professes, may be deprived of
the right of contracting marriage and rearing a family under the
protection of the law.
Individual complaints, deliberations of authorities, and public and
solemn appeals in Parliament have proven this necessity, to which the
Government of your Majesty is, therefore, obliged to attend in order to
avoid the social and legal conflicts which immediately and still more in
the future will surely result from such an exception, entirely
indefensible because it involves a flagrant contradiction to admit the
inhabitants of the aforesaid islands to the same rights as those of the
peninsula and at the same time to deprive them of the legal means for
their exercise. This contradiction can and ought to be perfectly avoided
by doing nothing more than applying in the Antilles the legislation
existing on the subject in the peninsula, that is to say, the law of
civil marriage, with the modifications afterwards introduced by the
royal decree of February 9, 1875, by using in effect the authority
granted to your Majesty’s Government by article 89 of the constitution
of the Monarchy. In this way the just aspirations of public opinion will
be satisfied without contending against any of those ideas Or feelings
which, from every point of view, merit consideration and respect, and
without prejudices to applying at the proper time the reforms for the
improvement of the legislation in regard to marriage which the
Government has under consideration and thinks of presenting to the
Cortes.
On the other hand, madam, it is no new thing to adopt for the provinces
of ultra-mar regulations in the sense of the present, as is proven by
the royal instruction order of December 16, 1792, by which a form of
civil marriage, with its corresponding register, was established for
marriages contracted in the Territory of Louisiana and Florida, at that
time Spanish possessions, by persons professing Protestantism, and for
mixed marriages of Protestants and Catholics, because the glorious
predecessors
[Page 981]
of your Majesty,
with a lofty appreciation of the duties of Government desired and
attempted to heed true social necessities in all the length and breadth
of the nation. In view of the reasons above given, the undersigned
minister, in accord with the council of ministers, has the honor to
submit to the approbation of your Majesty the annexed project of
decree.
Madam, at your Majesty’s royal feet.
Victor Balaguer.
Madrid, November 12,
1886.
royal decree.
Having taken into consideration the reasons given by the minister of
ultramar, in accord with the council of ministers, and using the
authority granted to my Government by article 89 of the constitution
of the monarchy, in the name of my august son, King Alfonso XIII,
and as Queen Regent of the Kingdom, I decree as follows:
Article 1. The provisional law of civil
marriage of June 18, 1870, as well as the royal decree modifying it
of February 9, 1875, is hereby extended to the islands of Cuba and
Porto Rico.
Article 2. The minister of ultramar will
issue the regulations necessary for the accomplishment of this
decree, of which he shall give an account to the Cortes.
Given in the palace the 12th of November,
1886.
Maria Cristina.
The minister of ultramar.
