Roman Rota

The so-called Holy Rota, or the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, the most famous among the courts of the Holy See, as the court competent for declaring marriage void.

The Tribunal of Roman Rota

According to a saying, as widespread as it is erroneous, we speak of the annulment of marriage at the Holy Rota. For the inaccuracy of the cancellation term, refer to the relevant paragraph. As regards the so-called Sacred Rota,the following should be specified. The Tribunal of Roman Rota, this is the actual name of the court in question, it is actually a court essentially of appeal. This court has different competences, both in criminal and legal matters but, onowadays, it deals mainly with matrimonial cases. In particular, the Roman Rota shall adjudicate matrimonial cases at second or further instance, that is, in case of appeal against a judgment of the first instance or in third and subsequent instances, and in the case of extraordinary appeals such as those involving a nullity or a nova causa propositio.