- Legal capacity of the contracting parties;
- Their consent, freely given;
- Authority of the person performing the marriage; and
- A marriage license, except in a marriage of exceptional character (Sec. 1a, art. 3613).
Article 54. Any male of the age of sixteen years or upwards, and any female of the age of fourteen years or upwards, not under any of the impediments mentioned in articles 80 to 84, may contract marriage. (2)
Article 55. No particular form for the ceremony of marriage is required, but the parties with legal capacity to contract marriage must declare, in the presence of the person solemnizing the marriage and of two witnesses of legal age, that they take each other as husband and wife. This declaration shall be set forth in an instrument in triplicate, signed by signature or mark by the contracting parties and said two witnesses and attested by the person solemnizing the marriage.
In case of a marriage on the point of death, when the dying party, being physically unable, cannot sign the instrument by signature or mark, it shall be sufficient for one of the witnesses to the marriage to sign in his name, which fact shall be attested by the minister solemnizing the marriage. (3)
Article 56. Marriage may be solemnized by:
- The Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court;
- The Presiding Justice and the Justices of the Court of Appeals;
- Judges of the Courts of First Instance;
- Mayors of cities and municipalities;
- Municipal judges and justices of the peace;
- Priests, rabbis, ministers of the gospel of any denomination, church, religion or sect, duly registered, as provided in article 92; and
- Ship captains, airplane chiefs, military commanders, and consuls and vice-consuls in special cases provided in articles 74 and 75. (4a)
Article 57. The marriage shall be solemnized publicly in the office of the judge in open court or of the mayor, or in the church, chapel or temple, as the case may be, and not elsewhere, except in cases of marriages contracted on the point of death or in remote places in accordance with article 72 of this Code, or in case of marriage referred to in article 76 or when one of the parents or the guardian of the female or the latter herself if over eighteen years of age request it in writing, in which cases the marriage may be solemnized at a house or place designated by said parent or guardian of the female or by the latter herself in a sworn statement to that effect. (5a)
Article 58. Save marriages of an exceptional character authorized in Chapter 2 of this Title, but not those under article 75, no marriage shall be solemnized without a license first being issued by the local civil registrar of the municipality where either contracting party habitually resides. (7a)
Article 59. The local civil registrar shall issue the proper license if each of the contracting parties swears separately before him or before any public official authorized to administer oaths, to an application in writing setting forth that such party has the necessary qualifications for contracting marriage. The applicants, their parents or guardians shall not be required to exhibit their residence certificates in any formality in connection with the securing of the marriage license. Such application shall insofar as possible contain the following data:
- Full name of the contracting party;
- Place of birth;
- Age, date of birth;
- Civil status (single, widow or widower, or divorced);
- If divorced, how and when the previous marriage was dissolved;
- Present residence;
- Degree of relationship of the contracting parties;
- Full name of the father;
- Residence of the father;
- Full name of the mother;
- Residence of the mother;
- Full name and residence of the guardian or person having charge, in case the contracting party has neither father
