Falsity of an Affidavit of Marital Cohabitation Renders the Marriage Void Ab Initio for Lack of a Marriage License

The exception of a marriage license under Article 76 applies only to those who have lived together as husband and wife for at least five years and desire to marry each other. The Civil Code, in no ambiguous terms, places a minimum period requirement of five years of cohabitation.  No other reading of the law can be had, since the language of Article 76 is precise.  The minimum requisite of five years of cohabitation is an indispensability carved in the language of the law.  For a marriage celebrated under Article 76 to be valid, this material fact cannot be dispensed with.  It is embodied in the law not as a directory requirement, but as one that partakes of a mandatory character.  It is worthy to mention that Article 76 also prescribes that the contracting parties shall state the requisite facts[42] in an affidavit before any person authorized by law to administer oaths; and that the official, priest or minister who solemnized the marriage shall also state in an affidavit that he took steps to ascertain the ages and other qualifications of the contracting parties and that he found no legal impediment to the marriage.

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