The ecclesiastical marriage courts took up their activities in 1857. In 1868 Emperor Franz Joseph I overruled the regulations of the Concordat through the enactment of the “May Laws“ and transferred the jurisdiction over matrimonial affairs back to the secular courts. In place of the churchly regulations the rules of the General Civil Law Code of 1811 (ABGB) once again came into effect as well as subsequent laws and regulations. Since the church did not accept the one-sided termination of the Concordat by the Austrian monarchy, the ecclesiastical marriage courts continued to carry out their function as divorce courts until at least 1871. The validity of the Concordat wasn’t formally terminated until 1874.
The following table gives an overview of the ecclesiastical marriage courts and periods of investigation, number of proceedings examined and number of couples concerned.
Andrea Griesebner, August 2019
Last update, Andrea Griesebner, Dezember 2020