Everyone knows the scene from a film or a book: engaged couples who are on a ship on the high seas board the bridge in love and are promptly married by the captain. In Austria, such a marriage would not only fail because only relatively small bodies of water are available, but also because of the captain's lack of competence. There are precise legal regulations about who can conduct a valid marriage, and a ship's captain is definitely not one of them.
The legal validity of a marriage in Austria depends essentially on two conditions: Firstly, a so-called "marriage consent declaration" is required, which is an unambiguous and unanimous declaration by both partners (and also in person and in their presence) that they want to marry each other[1]. Secondly, it is absolutely essential that this declaration is made in front of a registrar. The marriage does not have to take place in the registry office itself, i.e. there is no local connection. However, without the presence of a registrar, there can be no valid marriage.
All marriages performed in Austria by other “marriage authorities” – not only ship captains, but also consular or diplomatic representatives or foresters or forestry office managers (so-called “forest weddings”) etc. – are non-marriages. The state legal system also does not recognize purely religious weddings, i.e. even a marriage performed exclusively by a priest has no legal effect in relation to legal questions of maintenance, matrimonial property law or the like.
It is interesting to note that a marriage can also be valid if it is concluded before a "bogus registrar", ie before a person who publicly performs the function of a registrar although he or she is not one (e.g. due to an error in appointment or in the case of marriages outside the assigned district). In such a case, the only requirement for the validity of the marriage is that the marriage is officially registered in the marriage register kept by the registry office[2].
In summary, in Austria there is no marriage without a registrar. A “marriage” concluded before a captain is only valid for the duration of the voyage!
This article was provided by
JOHANNES HEBENSTREIT, LL.M.*
*University of Cambridge
SCHRANNENGASSE 10E, 5020 SALZBURG
TEL: +43 (0)662 871 871 FAX: DW – 22
MAIL: OFFICE@RA-HEBENSTREIT.AT
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[1] This is usually done in accordance with Section 18 Paragraph 2 of the Civil Status Act, whereby the registrar asks the engaged couple individually about their desire to marry and they answer the question in the affirmative.
[2] See Section 15 paragraph 2 of the Marriage Act.
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