PUBLIC HONESTY. – It is a bond, analogous to affinity (v.), which, however, unlike that, does not derive from a valid marriage, but rather either from an invalid marriage (whether consummated or not) or from public or notorious concubinage; the bond, in either case, exists between the man and the relatives of the woman, and between her and the relatives of the man (CIC, can. 1078).
Before the CIC the notion of public honesty was different. Since affinity was always and only considered to arise from copulation between a man and a woman, whether matrimonial or not (v. affinity), the bond that arose between the relatives of the man and the woman, and between the relatives of the woman and the man, when the man and woman had entered into betrothal or had contracted but not consummated a marriage, was called public honesty (or quasi-affinity).
Public honesty constituted a diriment impediment to marriage, perhaps from the 10th century A.D.; before Gratian there is in fact no certain evidence of the existence of this impediment in Church legislation. Even the extension of the impediment up to the Fourth Lateran Council (A.D. 1215) is not very clear: it seems, however, that from that Council it was reduced to the first four degrees, while the Council of Trent then reduced the impediment of public honesty deriving from betrothal to the first degree only.
In Eastern canon law the notion of public honesty deriving from betrothal or from unconsummated marriage remained in force until 1 May 1949, when the motu proprio *Crebrea allata* of 22 Feb. 1949 came into effect. The impediment existed in the first and second degrees in the case of public honesty deriving from betrothal, and up to the sixth, seventh, or eighth degree in the other case (for the computation of degrees in Eastern canon law before 1949, V. CONSANGUINITY).
At present, both in Latin canon law (CIC, can. 1078) and in Eastern canon law (motu proprio *Crebrea allata*, cited above, can. 69; AAS, 41 [1949] p. 104), public honesty constitutes an impediment only in the first and second degrees of the direct line, i.e., between the man and the relatives in the first or second degree of the woman, and between her and the relatives in the first or second degree of the man.
To understand fully the scope of the impediment, it must be borne in mind: a) that by invalid marriage is meant one which, although null, has the appearance of a true marriage; it is necessary, that is, that matrimonial consent should have been manifested (even if only simultaneously) in the prescribed form or at least in a form that appears regular. If, therefore, the contracting parties are bound to observe ecclesiastical form, their civil marriage cannot, as such, produce the impediment of public honesty (but if the two have cohabited, the impediment may derive from concubinage); b) that by public concubinage is meant one whose notoriety is already widespread or may reasonably be foreseen to become so; by notorious concubinage is meant one that results from a judicial sentence or confession, or is publicly known and committed under circumstances such that it cannot be concealed or excused (cf. can. 2197).
The impediment of public honesty, not being of natural law but of ecclesiastical law, can be dispensed (v. DISPENSATION); and in the second degree it is a minor impediment (CIC, can. 1042 § 2, n. 3; motu proprio *Crebrea allata*, can. 31 § 1, n. 3). However, dispensation is never granted for marriage between the man and a daughter of the woman, when there is any doubt that the daughter was conceived by that man.
This impediment does not apply to unbaptized persons; it is, however, doubtful whether it applies in the case of persons who have lived in concubinage (or contracted an invalid marriage) before receiving Baptism, and then, after the end of the concubinage or pseudo-maternal cohabitation, have received Baptism.
The impediment is likewise doubtful in the case of invalid marriage due to lack of consent. It is also doubtful whether the impediment persists, together with the subsequently arising affinity, when the two concubines contract marriage between themselves, or when the invalid marriage is convalidated.