Q. 1. What is an "occult impediment?"

A. 1. An "occult impediment" to marriage is one that cannot be proven. It is not public. It is unlike a public impediment that can be proven in the external forum (c. 1074). Proof of a public impediment may take the form, for instance, of authentic public records or the evidence of experts.

An example of an accult impediment would be consanguinity resulting from a union that was illicit. Consanguinity means "blood relation", from the Latin consanguinitas. It is the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that aspect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person.