Title 48Territories and Insular PossessionsRelease 119-73

§736 Puerto Rican law modified

Title 48 › Chapter CHAPTER 4— - PUERTO RICO › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 736

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Repeals the April 11, 1899 rule that kept priests, ministers, or other religious followers from marrying because of vows. The March 17, 1899 order that continued that rule is canceled, and people lawfully married in Puerto Rico have the same rights whether their marriage was civil or religious. Changes the divorce rule so the fault listed is adultery by either spouse.

Full Legal Text

Title 48, §736

Territories and Insular Possessions — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

So much of the law which was in force at the time of cession, April 11th, 1899, forbidding the marriage of priests, ministers, or followers of any faith because of vows they may have taken, being paragraph 4, article 83, chapter 3, civil code, and which was continued by the order of the secretary of justice of Puerto Rico, dated March 17, 1899, and promulgated by Major General Guy V. Henry, United States Volunteers, is repealed and annulled, and all persons lawfully married in Puerto Rico shall have all the rights and remedies conferred by law upon parties to either civil or religious marriages. Paragraph 1, article 105, section 4, divorce, civil code, and paragraph 2, section 19, of the order of the minister of justice of Puerto Rico, dated March 17, 1899, and promulgated by Major General Guy V. Henry, United States Volunteers, are so amended as to read: “Adultery on the part of either the husband or the wife.”

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was not enacted as part of the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act which comprises this chapter.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Puerto Rico” substituted in text for “Porto Rico” pursuant to act May 17, 1932, which is classified to section 731a of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

48 U.S.C. § 736

Title 48Territories and Insular Possessions

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73