CHAPTER XXI.
Servia.
Servia is a kingdom in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula. In 1882 it became a constitutional monarchy. The judiciary is vested in a High Court of Appeal, a Court of Cassation, a Commercial Court and twenty-three courts of the first instance.
The Servian laws of marriage and divorce are substantially the same as those of the Orthodox Greek Church. All marital suits in which one or both parties belong to this church are governed by State law, although jurisdiction lies with the ecclesiastical courts. Matters pertaining to property settlement are, however, entirely within the jurisdiction of the civil courts, as are all marital suits in which neither party belongs to the Greek Church.
When the parties to a marital suit are Roman Catholics decisions are rendered according to the canon law; and when both parties are Protestants, according to the principles of the sect to which the parties belong.
In the case of a mixed marriage of others than adherents of the Greek Church the decision is rendered according to the principles of the church in which the marriage was celebrated.
Marriage Qualifications.—A man cannot marry until he has completed his seventeenth year; a woman until she has completed her fifteenth year of age. By the dispensation of the church, granted by a bishop, a man of fifteen years or a woman of thirteen years may conclude marriage.
The free consent of both parties is essential to a valid marriage.