Error Determinans: A Ground of Nullity? The Perspective of the Tradition

The error that determines the will of canon 1099 is a new ground, which has been increasingly used since its appearance in the 1983 code. Nevertheless, the late Cardinal Urbano Navarrete affirmed that it had no root in the tradition. Indeed, the Catholic Church has never considered error about the sacramentality, the unity, or the indissolubility of marriage as diriment. The present article starts with a critical study of the history of the issue, including all the relevant sources. Afterwards, the paper describes the different explanations given by the authors to the unexpected appearance of the clause “dummodo non determinet voluntatem” in the code.