Annulment.Dear editor, A correspondent (History Lesson, Journal Letters, May) said that King Henry VIII established the right to divorce in the Church of England Church of England: see England, Church of. . He received an annulment annulment Legal invalidation of a marriage. It announces the invalidity of a marriage that was void from its inception. It is to be distinguished from dissolution or divorce. To justify annulment, the marriage contract must have a defect (e.g. , not a divorce in the modern sense. The English universities and courts agreed that the king hadn't been legally married in the first place, because marriage with a brother's wife was prohibited by Lev. 20:21. While it was true that the Pope had granted a dispensation DISPENSATION. A relaxation of law for the benefit or advantage of an individual. In the United States, no power exists, except in the legislature, to dispense with law, and then it is not so much a dispensation as a change of the law. to allow the marriage anyway, it was decided that the Pope couldn't abrogate abrogate v. to annul or repeal a law or pass legislation that contradicts the prior law. Abrogate also applies to revoking or withdrawing conditions of a contract. (See: repeal) the word of God. This decision to rank Scripture above papal authority reflected the teaching of the English Reformation. Alan L. Hayes Oakville, Ont. |
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