[Petrosius]

I have never understood this. How is a marriage that is consummated, perhaps even results in children, annulable? How can what is clearly a marriage be severed on the basis that it never happened?

Consummation must be accompanied with the proper consent, otherwise every visit to a prostitute would constitute a marriage. If one of the parties did not intend that the marriage would be permanent (until death do us part), exclusive, and open to children, if they were unable to give consent (because of compulsion or mental defect), if they elicited the consent of the other through fraud, if they were not free to enter into a marriage, or if they were too closely related then there is no marriage despite it being consummated.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Ahh I see, thanks much. The concept of “consent” certainly resolves many issues.

[Twinkie]

If you visit a prostitute; you two do become one flesh.

[Mr Rogers]

“If one of the parties did not intend that the marriage would be permanent (until death do us part)...”

That loophole would allow ANY marriage to be annulled. By definition, someone who is seeking a divorce has obviously decided marriage is NOT “until death do us part”...backdating it then becomes easy enough.