The provisions having reference to marriage, included in the ninety-eighth canon of the Sixth Council, appear to conflict with certain rules of the Civil Law; for the Council declares in a general way that a woman shall not marry a second time during the lifetime of her husband; and if she does so, she shall be considered as having committed adultery. On the other hand, the Civil Law does not state that she commits a serious offence by such a separation, but if she receives the nuptial benediction before the time when she has a right to marry it condemns her to the loss of the betrothal gift, as well as to the payment of the penalty stipulated in the marriage contract; and as a strict construction reveals an apparent inconsistency in this connection (that is to say, that the marriage may be dissolved after the nuptial benediction, for it is only then that a dissolution can take place), We hereby decree that the nuptial benediction cannot be bestowed before the marriageable age, namely, before the age of fifteen in the case of boys and twelve in the case of girls. Under these circumstances this benediction will not be granted too soon, and if the parties should dissolve the marriage, as this will then be done legally, the rule established by the Civil Law will not conflict with the canons of the Church.