The Role of the Defender of the Bond in Canon Law and Hungarian Private Law

Abstract

The defender of the bond is one of the most important officials at the ecclesiastical courts. In this paper I examine the changes of this office both in canonical legislation and in jurisdictional practise (and in Hungarian private law). I present the practise of the holy see of Veszprém and Székesfehérvár in matrimonial cases in the 19^th and 20^th century.