(Latin: dirimere, take apart; impedire, impede)
One that renders a marriage altogether invalid unless a dispensation be granted by the Church, which is possible only in certain cases. Under the present Code of Canon Law these impediments are: defect of age, impotence, difference of worship (baptized and unbaptized), Sacred Orders, solemn vows, abduction, crime (adultery, homicide, or both), relationship, or affinity, within proscribed degrees, spiritual relationship, legal relationship (adoption when State forbids marriage between adopter and adopted), clandestinity, public decency.