ILLEGAL MARRIAGES

Articles 217 to 219 of the Penal Code regulate a series of criminal behaviors related to the celebration of illegal marriages, which we will see below.

Bigamy

In the first place, the crime of bigamy, provided for and punished in Article 217 of the Penal Code, punishes the conduct consisting of contracting a second or subsequent marriage, knowing that the previous one legally subsists, with a prison sentence of 6 months to 1 year.

Celebration of an invalid marriage to the detriment of the other contracting party

Secondly, Art. 218 of the Penal Code punishes the celebration of an invalid marriage, carried out with the purpose of harming the other party, behavior that carries a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years.

Authorization of invalid marriage

Finally, it punishes the authorization of marriages in which there is a known cause of nullity or a cause of nullity denounced in the case file. This is a special crime, which can only be committed by those persons who are authorized to authorize marriages, such as judges or mayors. The penalty associated with this crime is imprisonment from 6 months to 2 years and special disqualification for employment or public office from 2 to 6 years, a penalty that is replaced by a lesser penalty (suspension from employment or public office from 6 months to 2 years) in those cases in which the cause of nullity is dispensable.