OLDRADUS DE PONTE
Forced marriage upon a girl or woman was very common at the time. In this case, the woman had been repeatedly raped (the sin) and then forced to say the words of the marriage ceremony in front of witnesses. The woman wanted the marriage dissolved, and the man wanted his “wife.” At the time, there was no such thing as divorce. De Ponte ruled that there was no marriage. He was the first medieval jurist to write opinions on cases, thus preserving a record for openness and an instrument to teach others and produce uniformity of decisions and judgments—the basis of most legal systems today. As a result this written case, forced marriage became less frequent in Italy, though it is very prevalent in underdeveloped countries in general and Islamic nations in particular. Even in the United States there are a few cases of forced marriage each year, particularly in religious cults and communities.
He was the first medieval jurist to write opinions on cases, thus preserving a record for openness and an instrument to teach others and produce uniformity of decisions and judgments—the basis of most legal systems today. This quotation is a principle of most modern legal systems today.
Oldradus de Ponte (died 1335) was an Italian jurist born in Lodi, active in the Roman curia in the early fourteenth century. Previously he had taught at the University of Padua. According to Joseph Canning he was an authority in both canon law and civil law, and his consilia (legal opinions) are the earliest surviving ones.
