Matrimonio e Chiesa d’Inghilterra oggi

Abstract

It seems to take growing root in the West a certain idea of marriage, which appears to descend from the French secularism model, in being “counter-traditional”, respectful of the individual autonomy, and devoted to an “integral” application of the principle of equality. The proof is that it putted down roots in legal contexts poles apart from the above model, for their way to set the space and the relevance of religion in the public sphere. The study examines the emblematic English case, where this notion has led to the introduction of “same-sex marriage”, without the peculiar framework of the relations between the State and his national Church, with his singular legal tecnical implications (the “ecclesiastical law” as integral part of the general law of England; the “constitutional” principle for which the canon law cannot be contrary to the latter; the correspondence – until then – between “anglican marriage” and the civil one; the clergy's duty to solemnise the marriage of all the residents in the Country irrespective of the couple's religious beliefs or lack of them) have rapresented a barrier or a scruple. The goal of the paper is, on one hand, focusing the political and legal reasons that underlie this outcome, and, on the other hand, look into the impact that the latter has resulted on the Church of England's legal system, its legally relevant reactions, and the adopted “style of presence”, also as a “benchmark” for the more comprehensive anglican world.