THE FAMILY CODE

Art. 2. No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are

present:
(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a
female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

Essential requisite of Marriage- Consent Freely Given

Marriage relation or status is founded on the consent of the parties.

o Consent Must Be FREE or VOLUNTARY
Consent must be given:
Freely
Voluntarily
Intelligently
When consent is obtained through mistake, fraud, force,
intimidation or undue influence, the marriage is annullable.

Marriage without consent is a mere nullity.

Consent must be mutual.
o Manifestation of Consent

Source: Rabuya, Elmer T., The Law on Persons and Family Relations, 2006

Contracting parties must:

personally appear before the solemnizing officer;
and
declare in the presence of not less than two (2)
witnesses of legal age that they take each other as
husband and wife

However, the mere fact that the marriage is bogus and fraudulent on
the part of one party will not render the same invalid where the other
party is deceived and believed it to be a valid marriage.
For example:
When one party was aware that the solemnizer had no
legal authority to solemnize a marriage but the other party
believed in good faith that the solemnizer had the legal authority
to do so.
o Intent or Motive
Law will not look behind the appearance of a consent which
was clearly manifested to determine its reality.
Secret mental reservations of a party will not be inquired
into, nor will the motives inducing the apparent consent be
examined