marriage

marriage,

socially sanctioned union that reproduces the familyfamily,
a basic unit of social structure, the exact definition of which can vary greatly from time to time and from culture to culture. How a society defines family as a primary group, and the functions it asks families to perform, are by no means constant.
..... Click the link for more information. . In all societies the choice of partners is generally guided by rules of exogamy (the obligation to marry outside a group); some societies also have rules of endogamy (the obligation to marry within a group). These rules may be prescriptive or, as in the case of the incestincest,
sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship. Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definition of incest also varies.
..... Click the link for more information. taboo, proscriptive; they generally apply to kinship groups such as clanclan,
social group based on actual or alleged unilineal descent from a common ancestor. Such groups have been known in all parts of the world and include some that claim the parentage or special protection of an animal, plant, or other object (see totem).
..... Click the link for more information. or lineage; residential groups; and social groups such as the ethnic group, castecaste
[Port., casta=basket], ranked groups based on heredity within rigid systems of social stratification, especially those that constitute Hindu India. Some scholars, in fact, deny that true caste systems are found outside India.
..... Click the link for more information. , or class.

Historically marriage was typically heterosexual and entailed exclusive rights and duties of sexual performance, but there are instructive exceptions. For example, Nayar women of India would ritually marry men of a superior caste, have numerous lovers, and bear legitimate children. Among the Dahomey of West Africa, one woman could marry another; the first woman would be the legal "father" of the children (by other men) of the second. These examples highlight the functions of marriage to reproduce both a domestic division of labor and social relationships between different groups. Such functions are served even by the more common type of marriage, the union of one or more men with one or more women.

In most societies men and women have been valued for their different roles in the household economy. Marriage therefore often has occasioned other economic exchanges. If a woman's labor is highly valued, a man may be required to offer valuable goods (bride-price) or his own labor (bride-service) to his wife's family. If a man's labor is more highly valued, the bride's family may offer goods (dowry) to the husband or his family.

Marriage as a Societal Bond

In many societies marriage links not just nuclear families but larger social formations as well. Some endogamous societies are divided into different exogamous groups (such as clans or lineages): Men form alliances through the exchange of women, and the social organization regulates these alliances through marriage rules. In some cases, two men from different groups exchange sisters for brides. Other instances involve an adult man marrying the young or infant daughter of another man; sexual relations would be deferred for many years, but the two men will have formed a strong bond. Marriages are often arranged by the families through the services of a matchmaker or go-between, and commence with a ritual celebration, or wedding. Some cultures practice trial marriage; the couple lives together before deciding whether they should marry. Societies have generally prescribed where newlywed couples should live: In patrilocal cultures, they live with or near the husband's family; in matrilocal ones, with or near the wife's family. Under neolocal residence, the couple establishes their own household.

Although marriage tends to be regarded in many places as a permanent tie, divorce is allowed in most modern societies. The causes of divorce vary, but adultery, desertion, infertility, failure to provide the necessities of life, mistreatment, and incompatibility are the most common. Civil unions are now permitted in Western countries, but for nearly a thousand years marriage in the Western world was a religious contract. The Christian church undertook its supervision in the 9th cent., when newlywed couples instituted the practice of coming to the church door to have their union blessed by the priest. Eventually the church regulated marriage through canon law.

In contemporary Europe marriage has lost some of importance, especially as social legislation in some nations has emphasized assuring equal financial benefits and legal standing to children born to unwed parents. Some European nations also grant legal recognition to couples in less restrictive unions; such partnerships typically have some but not all of the legal rights extended to married couples, but the partnership usually can be more easily dissolved.

For the legal aspects of marriage, see husband and wifehusband and wife,
the legal aspects of the married state (for the sociological aspects, see marriage). The Marriage Contract

Marriage is a contractual relationship between a man and a woman that vests the parties with a new legal status.
..... Click the link for more information. ; consanguinityconsanguinity
, state of being related by blood or descended from a common ancestor. This article focuses on legal usage of the term as it relates to the laws of marriage, descent, and inheritance; for its broader anthropological implications, see incest.
..... Click the link for more information. ; divorcedivorce,
partial or total dissolution of a marriage by the judgment of a court. Partial dissolution is a divorce "from bed and board," a decree of judicial separation, leaving the parties officially married while forbidding cohabitation.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Forms of Marriage

Monogamy (the union of one wife to one husband) is the prevalent form almost everywhere. Polygyny (or polygamy; having several wives at one time), however, has been a prerogative in many societies (see haremharem
[Arabic], term applied to women's apartments in a Muslim household. In the ancient Arab world women enjoyed a certain amount of freedom. However, with the advent of Islam, the veiling and seclusion of women into harems became more common.
..... Click the link for more information. ). It is commonly found where the value of women's labor is high and may be practiced as a way of acquiring allies: A man may cement his bonds with several other men by marrying their sisters or daughters. Polyandry (having several husbands at one time) is rare, having occurred infrequently in Tibetan society, among the Marquesas of Polynesia, and among certain hill tribes in India. People who enjoy only a marginal subsistence may practice polyandry as a way of limiting births. It is also practiced where brothers must work together to sustain one household; they share one wife. The custom of marrying a widow to her late husband's brother is known as levirate marriage and was common among the ancient Hebrews. In sororate marriages a widower marries his deceased (or barren) wife's sister. The levirate and the sororate occur in societies where marriage is seen to create an alliance between groups; the deceased spouse's group has a duty to provide a new spouse to the widow or widower, thereby preserving the alliance. Beginning in the late 20th cent., gay-rights groups in a growing number of nations have sought official recognition of same-sex couples through marriage or civil union (see gay-rights movementgay-rights movement,
organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homosexuals from the mid-19th through the first half of the 20th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. ).

Bibliography

See C. Levi-Strauss, The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1969); E. A. Westermark, The History of Human Marriage (3 vol., 5th ed. 1921; repr. 1971); J. M. Henslin, Marriage and Family in a Changing Society (2d ed. 1985); J. F. Collier, Marriage and Inequality in Classless Societies (1988); A. J. Cherlin, The Marriage-Go-Round (2010).

marriage

a socially acknowledged and sometimes legally ratified union between an adult male and an adult female. Some preindustrial societies recognize POLYGAMY, either POLYGYNY in which a man may be married to more than one woman, or, much more rarely, POLYANDRY, in which a woman may be married to more than one man. MONOGAMY, however, is by far the most common form of marriage, even in societies where polygamy is permitted. See also KINSHIP, FAMILY, SOCIOLOGY OF THE FAMILY.

In preindustrial societies marriage has been regulated by kin relationships and has for the most part reflected kin interests. Expectations would be either to marry within the group (ENDOGAMY), or in other societies the contrary EXOGAMY. Within industrial societies personal choice is more prominent, with the idea of ROMANTIC LOVE, or ‘affective individualism’, having great influence. Choice of marital partner, however, would appear to operate generally within a narrow social range.

Another marital form increasingly found in industrial societies is cohabitation, where a male and female live together in a sexual relationship without marrying, although often as a prelude to marriage. On a much smaller scale there are also ‘gay’ (both LESBIAN and HOMOSEXUAL) marriages and communal arrangements.

The sociological study of marriage in industrial societies has a number of preoccupations currently, including:

marriage rates – the number of adults that are married as a proportion of the adult population. This is a figure that seems to be influenced by a range of factors, including age at marriage, changes in FERTILITY, longevity MIGRATION, wars and broad economic circumstances including the changing patterns in the employment of married women;
the distribution of power within the marital relationship. The evidence is that this may be changing slowly. Across all social classes, however, the evidence is that economic and locational decisions are still made by men. The SYMMETRICAL FAMILY remains exceptional;
the ‘discovery’ of violence within marriage. This has led to a substantial body of research revealing the widespread abuse of women within marriage in many societies and in all social classes (see WIFE BATTERING). Such studies have provided part of the feminist critique of the institutions of both marriage and the family;
the factors affecting remarriage. Within industrial societies, remarriage is increasing among the divorced and the widowed. This phenomenon has led to the recognition of a new familial form, namely the reconstituted family (or stepfamily) involving the coming together of partners who bring with them the offspring of earlier relationships. Despite the growth in the divorce rate, remarriage in most industrial societies is increasingly popular, giving rise to the notion of serial monogamy.

Marriage

a form of relationship between a woman and a man which is historically conditioned, sanctioned, and regulated by society. It establishes their rights and obligations to each other and to their children.

The nature of marital relationships to a great extent determines the growth of the population and the physical and spiritual condition of new generations. Marriage regulates and realizes the natural need of people to continue their families, which is transformed by social conditions and culture.

In the final analysis the social essence of marriage is determined by the dominant social relations; it is also affected by politics, law, morality, and religion. By sanctioning a marriage, society undertakes the definite tasks of preserving it and imposes on the people who have entered into it responsibility for ensuring the material care and upbringing of their children and consequently the future of the family. “If marriage were not the basis of the family,” wrote K. Marx, “then it would not be a subject for legislation, as is the case, for example, with friendship” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 1, p. 162). As a social relationship, marriage is primarily of a moral nature, since the man and woman enter into it as individuals. Among the moral values that are especially important for the stability of a marriage are individual sexual love, conjugal and parental duties, and mutual respect and aid.

Various hypotheses have been advanced regarding the initial forms of marriage. Most Soviet scholars consider that originally, during the period of the primitive human group, there was no marriage. So-called promiscuous relationships prevailed; each woman of a given group could have sexual relations with all the men, and each man in a group could have sexual relations with all the women. With the development of the clan structure during the Middle or Upper Paleolithic period, exogamy and group marriage appeared; all the men of one group had the right to sexual relations with all the women of another group. As the clan structure developed, the sporadic cohabitation of individual pairs led to the rise of the paired marriage, which united only one conjugal pair. It was possible for the mates to continue living separately within their own clan (dislocated marriage); later the husband began to live in his wife’s clan (matrilocal marriage) and still later the wife, in her husband’s clan (patrilocal marriage). The personal property of the mates remained separate. Marriage was unstable and easily dissolved; there were extensive survivals of group marriage. In the late Neolithic and subsequently in the metal ages, the disintegration of the clan structure led to the rise of the patriarchal family and along with it, of monogamous (single-pair) marriage. Monogamy firmly united the mates to each other and to their offspring, thereby ensuring the integrity of the family, which for the first time became an economic unit of society. The wife together with her children fell under the husband’s power. The purchase and abduction of brides became widespread, as did levirate, barter, and parallel cousin marriages. Monogamous marriage later found its final form of expression in the monogamous or small family, which arose during the concluding stage of the decline of the primitive communal structure. The development of monogamous marriage was speeded up with the appearance of private property, which gave rise to the proprietary form of monogamy. Its most characteristic traits are priority of utilitarian considerations (accumulation of property and its transfer by inheritance) over all other considerations (psychological, moral, and aesthetic), the enslavement of women, and the enforcement of conjugal fidelity.

In antagonistic class formations, monogamous marriages acquire a number of social and legal features that are characteristic of a given formation. Thus marriage in a slave-owning society was recognized only for free citizens, whereas conjugal relations between slaves were regarded simply as cohabitation. During the early Middle Ages in Europe, church marriage became obligatory for everyone; serfs, however, could marry only with the consent of their feudal lord. Under capitalism the extension of employment for women, the decline of the prestige and influence of religion, and the democratization of marriage, family legislation, and sexual morality led, on the one hand, to a disorganization and crisis of the “classical” proprietary marriage (an increase in the number of divorces and desertions) and, on the other hand, to the development of a new form of marital relations, based primarily on mutual feelings and personal choice and characterized by the relative legal equality of the mates.

The socialist transformations of society, which ensure the equal rights of women and men and promote the spread of communist morality among the masses, lead to a moral enrichment of the relationships between the sexes. Marriage under socialism is a voluntary and equal union of a man and a woman, free from utilitarian calculations and the interference of third parties. Its purpose is to guarantee the partners the rights to matrimony and parenthood. The legal and moral regulation of marital relations does not contradict the freedom of marriage, and is directed first and foremost toward protecting it from the vestiges of the old proprietary morality.

A. G. KHARCHEV and A. I. PERSHITS

Legal regulation. Marriage entails the establishment of special legal relationships between the spouses and later, between the spouses and their children and other members of the family. In the USSR legal actions can be taken only in the cases of marriages that have been solemnized according to established procedure. A marriage that has not been contracted in the proper manner does not entail any marital rights and obligations between a man and a woman. Marriage registrations are carried out by the register offices for documents of civil status (ZAGS) or by rural (settlement) soviets, that conduct the functions of the ZAGS. Religious marriage ceremonies have no legal significance. This rule does not apply to the religious ceremonies that were performed before the formation or restoration of the Soviet ZAGS or to the documentary proof of such marriages (art. 6 of the Code of Marriage and the Family of the RSFSR, 1969). In the USSR all questions connected with the institution of marriage are regulated by the 1968 Fundamentals of the Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics on Marriage and the Family (Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta SSSR, 1968, no. 27, p. 241), by the republic-level codes on marriage and the family (KOBIS), and by other legislative acts of the Union republics. A marriage may be contracted solely with the mutual consent of the man and woman; mutual consent excludes any sort of pressure upon the persons entering into matrimony and eliminates the possibility of a marriage being contracted by deception. The violation of this principle signifies a discrepancy between the declaration of intention of a person entering into marriage and his or her actual intention; therefore, the marriage is considered illegal and invalid. A marriage cannout be registered between persons if one of them is declared to be incompetent because of mental illness or feeblemindedness. In order to contract marriage, the partners must have attained the prescribed so-called marriageable age, which in the USSR is 18. This age may be lowered by the legislation of the Union republics, but not by more than two years. Registration of marriages before the age of 18 is allowed by the codes of the Union republics in special cases as exceptions.

Marriage is possible under the condition that neither party is legally married to another person at that time. In those Union republics where a man having two or more wives is a vestige of old customs, such marriages are considered illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. Marriages are not allowed between certain relatives: along the direct line of descent no matter what the degree of relationship and along the collateral line—between brothers and sisters, whether full or half, and between adoptive parents and their adopted children. The most important principle of Soviet legislation on marriage and the family is the complete legal equality of men and women. The possibility of entering into a marriage and the nature of marital relations are not affected in any way by national or racial factors or by religious faith. No one’s permission is required to form a marriage union. The process of contracting a marriage consists of two steps: the submission of a declaration concerning the registration of the marriage and the registration itself. (A marriage is considered to be registered from the time that a certificate of registration is issued.) A marriage can be terminated according to established laws.

In the legislation of other socialist countries the legal regulation of marriage is based on principles that are analogous to the principles of Soviet law.

As a rule, marriage is a civil and legal transaction in the legislation of bourgeois states. Accordingly, the procedure for solemnizing a marriage is established not by family legislation but by civil legislation, which is extremely archaic. Thus, in the Federal Republic of Germany the German Civil Code of 1896 has remained in effect to this day with some insignificant changes; in France the Civil Code of 1804, with amendments made in 1965, is in effect. A characteristic feature of the legislation of most bourgeois states is the lower status of women in the family, her inferior status with regard to property rights, and a belittlement of her parental rights. The marriageable age in most countries is lower for women. In France it is 15 for women and 18 for men; in Italy, 14 for women and 16 for men; in the Federal Republic of Germany, 16 for women and 21 for men; and in the USA (in various states), 14 to 18 for women and 15 to 21 for men. In Great Britain the marriageable age for both men and women is 16. Of extreme importance in contracting a marriage is settling the question of the property distribution between the future mates. In prerevolutionary Russia marriage was prohibited after the age of 80 (after the age of 60, according to ecclesiastical prescription). In 31 states of the USA marriage is prohibited between whites and Negroes. In a number of Muslim countries (for example, in Saudi Arabia and the Arab Republic of Yemen), polygyny is permitted by legislation. In many countries the church, especially the Catholic Church, has a powerful influence on questions relating to marriage and the family.

In certain countries (for example, in Iran and Japan) legislation recognizes the legal force of so-called temporary marriages, the duration of which is agreed upon by the parties involved and set down in a marriage contract. At the same time the amount of redemption that the spouse transfers to the wife in such a marriage is set. Upon the expiration of the period for which the contract was made, the marriage and all legal relations between the spouses are considered to be terminated.

REFERENCES

Engels, F. “Proiskhozhdenie sem’i, chastnoi sobstvennosti i gosudarstva.” In K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21.
Lenin, V. I. “O znachenii voinstvuiushchego materializma.” In Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 45. Pages 31–33. Lenin, V. I. I. F.
Armānd ot 23 maia 1914, 4 ianvaria 1915 i 24 ianvaria 1915. (Letters.) Ibid., vols. 48 and 49.
Vol’fson, S. Ia. Sotsiologiia braka i sem’i. Minsk, 1929. Vol’fson, S. Ia. Sem’ia i brak v ikh istoricheskom razvitii. Moscow 1937.
Sverdlov, G. M. Brak i razvod. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Kharchev, A. G. Brak i sem’ia v SSSR: Opyt sotsiologicheskogo issledovaniia. Moscow, 1964.
Kosven, M. O. Ocherki istorii pervobytnoi kul’tury, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1957.
Goode, W. J. World Revolution and Family Patterns. Chicago, 1963.
Aldous, J., and R. Hill. International Bibliography of Research in Marriage and the Family: 1900–1964. [Minneapolis, 1967.]

What does it mean when you dream about marriage?

Marriage in a dream symbolizes commitment of oneself to another. It can also represent the inner marriage of formerly disjunctive aspects of oneself. (See also Bride/Bridegroom.)

Marriage

American lindensymbol of marriage. [Plant Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 182]Aphrodite Genetrixpatron of marriage and procreation. [Gk. Myth.: Espy, 16]As You Like Itits denouement has the marriages of four couples. [Br. Lit.: Shakespeare As You Like It]Benedicknickname for groom; derived from Shakespeare’s Benedick. [Br. Lit.: Much Ado About Nothing]Blondie and Dagwoodtypify relationship between dominant wife and her inadequate mate. [Comics: Berger, 108]Bridal Chorustraditional wedding song; from Wagner’s Lohengrin. [Music: Scholes, 1113]Canawedding feast where Christ made water into wine. [N.T.: John 2:1–11]Doll’s House, Aafter eight years of marriage, in which Torvald Helmer has treated Nora more like a doll than a human being, she declares her independence. [Nor. Drama: Ibsen A Doll’s House]epithalamiumpoem in honor of bride and groom. [Western Lit.: LLEI, 1: 283]EratoMuse of bridal songs. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 90]Frome, Ethanhis loveless and unhappy marriage to Zeena remains hopeless when his love affair with Mattie comes to a pitiful end. [Am. Lit.: Ethan Frome in Benét, 324]Gretna Greenplace in Scotland, just across the English border, where elopers could be married without formalities. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 418]Huldagoddess of marriage and fecundity. [Ger. Myth.: Benét, 484]huppahbridal canopy in Jewish weddings. [Judaism: Wigoder, 274]Marriage à la Modeengravings in which Hogarth satirically depicts the daily lives of a countess and an earl. [Br. Art: EB (1963) XI, 625]Modern Lovedramatizes the feelings of a couple whose marriage is dying. [Br. Lit.: George Meredith Modern Love in Magill IV, 899]orange blossomstraditional decoration for brides. [Br. and Fr. Tradition: Brewer Dictionary, 784]ProthalamionSpenser’s poem celebrating the double marriage of the two daughters of the Earl of Worcester. [Br. Poetry: Haydn & Fuller, 615]quincein portraits, traditionally held by woman in wedding. [Art: Hall, 257]ricenewly married couples pelted with rice for connubial good luck. [Western Folklore: Leach, 938]St. Agnes’s Evewhen marriageable girls foresee their future husbands. [Br. Lit.: “The Eve of St. Agnes” in Norton, 686–693]These Twaindifficult marital adjustments of Edwin Clayhanger and Hilda Lessways. [Br. Lit.: Bennett These Twain in Magill I, 148]tin cansput on car of newlyweds leaving ceremony. [Am. Cult.: Misc.]Way of the World, Theprofound analysis of the marriage relation in which Mirabell and Millamant negotiate a marriage agreement. [Br. Drama: Benét, 1077]Wedding Marchpopular bridal music from Mendelssohn’s march in Midsummer Night’s Dream. [Music: Scholes, 1113]Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?marriage of George and Martha is a travesty, full of arguments, frustration, and hatred. [Am. Drama: Edward Albee Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’? in Magill IV, 1282]Wife of Bathmany marriages form theme of her tale. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, “Wife of Bath’s Tale]

marriage

1. a. the legal union or contract made by a man and woman to live as husband and wife b. (as modifier): marriage licence 2. the religious or legal ceremony formalizing this union; wedding 3. (in certain card games, such as bezique, pinochle) the king and queen of the same suit

Marriage

(dreams)It is a symbol of commitment and, depending on the details of your dream, you may be currently dealing with this issue. The commitment could be to your work, to yourself or to your partner. Mostly, a marriage in your dream represents the coming together all various parts of yourself, (feminine and masculine, or spiritual and rational). It could represent a greater level of awareness whereby the dreamer’s conscious and unconscious elements are becoming more familiar and are embracing one another. On a more practical level, if you are not married but would like to be, this dream could also be a form of wish-fulfillment.

marriage

Marriage

The legal status, condition, or relationship that results from a contract by which one man and one woman, who have the capacity to enter into such an agreement, mutually promise to live together in the relationship of Husband and Wife in law for life, or until the legal termination of the relationship.

Marriage is a legally sanctioned contract between a man and a woman. Entering into a marriage contract changes the legal status of both parties, giving husband and wife new rights and obligations. Public policy is strongly in favor of marriage based on the belief that it preserves the family unit. Traditionally, marriage has been viewed as vital to the preservation of morals and civilization.

The traditional principle upon which the institution of marriage is founded is that a husband has the obligation to support a wife, and that a wife has the duty to serve. In the past, this has meant that the husband has the duty to provide a safe house, to pay for necessities such as food and clothing, and to live in the house. A wife's obligation has traditionally entailed maintaining a home, living in the home, having sexual relations with her husband, and rearing the couple's children. Changes in society have modified these marital roles to a considerable degree as married women have joined the workforce in large numbers, and more married men have become more involved in child rearing.

Individuals who seek to alter marital rights and duties are permitted to do so only within legally prescribed limits. Antenuptial agreements are entered into before marriage, in contemplation of the marriage relationship. Typically these agreements involve property rights and the terms that will be in force if a couple's marriage ends in Divorce. Separation agreements are entered into during the marriage prior to the commencement of an action for a separation or divorce. These agreements are concerned with Child Support, visitation, and temporary maintenance of a spouse. The laws governing these agreements are generally concerned with protecting every marriage for social reasons, whether the parties desire it or not. Experts suggest that couples should try to resolve their own difficulties because that is more efficient and effective than placing their issues before the courts.

In the United States, marriage is regulated by the states. At one time, most states recognized Common-Law Marriage, which is entered into by agreement of the parties to be husband and wife. In such an arrangement, no marriage license is required nor is a wedding ceremony necessary. The parties are legally married when they agree to marry and subsequently live together, publicly holding themselves out as husband and wife. The public policy behind the recognition of common-law marriage is to protect the parties' expectations, if they are living as husband and wife in every way except that they never participated in a formal ceremony. By upholding a common-law marriage as valid, children are legitimized, surviving spouses are entitled to receive Social Security benefits, and families are entitled to inherit property in the absence of a will. These public policy reasons have declined in significance. Most states have abolished common-law marriage, in large part because of the legal complications that arose concerning property and inheritance.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that states are permitted to reasonably regulate marriage by prescribing who can marry and the manner in which marriage can be dissolved. States may grant an Annulment or divorce on terms that they conclude are proper, because no one has the constitutional right to remain married. There is a right to marry, however, that cannot be casually denied. States are proscribed from absolutely prohibiting marriage in the absence of a valid reason. The U.S. Supreme Court, for example, struck down laws in southern states that prohibited racially mixed marriages. These antimiscegenation statutes were held to be unconstitutional in the 1967 case of Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S. Ct. 1817, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1010, because they violated Equal Protection of the laws.

On the other hand, the Court ruled in 1878 that polygamous marriages (i.e., having more than one spouse simultaneously) are illegal. The requirement that marriage involve one man and one woman was held to be essential to Western civilization and the United States in Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145, 25 L. Ed. 244. Chief Justice morrison r. waite, writing for a unanimous court, concluded that a state (in that case, Utah) may outlaw Polygamy for everyone, regardless of whether it is a religious duty, as the Mormons claimed it was.

All states limit people to one living husband or wife at a time and will not issue marriage licenses to anyone who has a living spouse. Once someone is married, the person must be legally released from his or her spouse by death, divorce, or annulment before he or she may legally remarry. Persons who enter into a second marriage without legally dissolving a first marriage may be charged with the crime of bigamy.

The idea that marriage is the union of one male and one female has been thought to be so basic that it is not ordinarily specifically expressed by statute. This traditional principle has been challenged by gays and lesbians who, until recently, have unsuccessfully sought to legalize their relationships. In Baker v. Nelson,, 191 N.W.2d 185 (Minn. 1971), the Minnesota Supreme Court sustained the clerk's denial of a marriage license to a homosexual couple.

The 1993 decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court in Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44, 74 Haw. 530, revived the possibility of homosexual marriage. In Baehr, the court held that the state law restricting legal marriage to parties of the opposite sex establishes a sex-based classification, which is subject to strict constitutional scrutiny when challenged on equal protection grounds. Although the court did not recognize a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, it indicated that the state would have a difficult time proving that the gay and lesbian couples were not being denied equal protection of the laws. On remand, the Circuit Court of Hawaii found that the state had not met its burden, and it enjoined the state from denying marriage applications solely because the applicants were of the same sex (Baehr v. Miike, 1996 WL 694235 [Hawaii Cir. Ct., Dec. 3, 1996]). However, this decision was stayed pending another appeal to the Hawaii Supreme Court. In the wake of Baehr, a number of states prepared legislation to ban same-sex marriage and to prohibit recognition of such marriages performed in Hawaii. In 1996, Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, Pub. L. No. 104–199, 110 Sat. 219, which defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman and permits states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Each state has its own individual requirements concerning the people who may marry. Before a state will issue a marriage license, a man and a woman must meet certain criteria. Some states prohibit marriage for those judged to be mentally ill or mentally retarded. In other states, however, a judge may grant permission to mentally retarded persons to marry.

Every state proscribes marriage between close relatives. The prohibited degree of relationship is fixed by state law. Every state forbids marriage to a child or grandchild, parent or grandparent, uncle or aunt, and niece or nephew, including illegitimate relatives and relatives of half blood, such as a half brother who has the same father but a different mother. A number of states also prohibit marriage to a first cousin, and some forbid marriage to a more distant relative, in-law, stepparent, or stepchild.

Age is an additional requirement. Every jurisdiction mandates that a man and a woman must be old enough to wed. In the 1800s, the legal age was as low as 12 years old for females. Modern statutes ordinarily provide that females may marry at age 16 and males at age 18. Sometimes a lower age is permitted with the written consent of the parents. A number of states allow for marriage below the minimum age if the female is pregnant and a judge grants permission.

Every couple who wishes to marry must comply with a state's formal requirements. Many states require a blood test or a blood test and physical examination before marriage, to show whether one party is infected with a venereal disease. In some states, for example, the clerk is forbidden to issue a marriage license until the parties present the results of the blood test.

Most states impose a waiting period between the filing of an application for a license and its issuance. The period is usually three days, but in some states the period may reach five days. Other states mandate a waiting period between the time when the license is issued and the date when the marriage ceremony may take place. Many states provide that the marriage license is valid only for a certain period of time. If the ceremony does not take place during this period, a new license must be obtained.

It has been customary to give notice of an impending marriage to the general public. The old form of notice was called "publication of the banns," and the upcoming marriage was announced in each party's church three Sundays in a row before the marriage. This informed the community of the intended marriage and gave everyone the opportunity to object if any knew of a reason why the two persons could not be married. Today, the names of applicants for marriage licenses are published in local newspapers.

Once a license is issued, the states require that the marriage commence with a wedding ceremony. The ceremony may either be civil or religious because states may not require religious observances. Ceremonial requirements are very simple and basic, in order to accommodate everyone. In some states, nothing more is required than a declaration by each party in the presence of an authorized person and one additional witness that he or she takes the other in marriage.

A minority of states have sought to curb growing divorce rates by enacting legislation designed to encourage couples to remain married. Statutes in states such as Arkansas, Arizona, and Louisiana provide for Covenant marriages, where couples agree to impose upon themselves limitations on their ability to divorce one another. Twenty other states have considered, but ultimately rejected, the adoption of similar bills. In covenant marriages, parties mutually agree to reject "no-fault divorce," agree to enroll in premarital or post-wedding counseling, and also agree to divorce only under certain, more limiting conditions, such as Domestic Violence, Abandonment, Adultery, imprisonment of a spouse, or lengthy separation. States that pass bills recognizing covenant marriages do not actually require such marriages, but rather formally acknowledge them as legally viable, thus creating legal recourse under the law for breaches of such covenants.

Louisiana passed its covenant-marriage law in 1997. At the time, it was touted as the first substantive effort in two centuries to make divorce more difficult, and lawmakers had hoped that other states would follow suit. Since then, however, fewer than five percent of Louisiana couples have opted to enter into such marriages. Arizona's version of the law is less restrictive in that it permits an additional reason for divorce based on the mutual consent of the parties.

The most common objection to covenant marriages comes from those who view such measures as undue government intrusion into family matters. The counter argument is that states increasingly have viewed divorce as a legitimate matter of public concern because of its extensive costs and the havoc it causes to primary and extended social and economic relationships. In this regard, covenant marriages are no more intrusive than are state laws that permit or deny divorce based on certain articulated grounds.

Another objection is that covenant marriages seemingly infringe upon the separation of church and state because the mandatory premarital counseling contained in the two existing laws is often provided by clergy. Other opponents to the attempted legislative measures in other states have either expressed reservation for laws that seem to limit adult autonomy and choice or have themselves been active in the "divorce industry." This resistance was apparently the case in Texas and Oklahoma, where covenant-marriage bills failed because of opposition by key committee chairmen who were divorce attorneys.

In addition to the failed legislative attempts to pass covenant-marriage bills in other states, different tactics to curb divorce have been tried. For example, Florida enacted the Marriage Preparation and Preservation Act in 1998, but no state has followed Florida in requiring its marriage-education curriculum for public high schools. The Minnesota legislature attempted to pass a law that would have lowered marriage-license fees for couples who sought pre-marital counseling, but Governor Jesse Ventura vetoed it. In Wisconsin, a federal judge struck down a new state law that earmarked Welfare money for clergy who encouraged long-married couples to mentor younger couples. According to the judge, the measure unfairly and unconstitutionally favored ministers over lay persons such as judges or justices of the peace. Texas passed law allocating $3 from every marriage-license fee to be used for marriage-education research and reform. Nationwide, a group of activists called Americans for Divorce Reform seeks to educate lawmakers, the media, and the general public on the true negative aspects of divorce, but the group does not advocate any specific reform such as covenant marriages.

Cross-references

Celebration of Marriage; Domestic Violence; Family Law; Gay and Lesbian Rights; Miscegenation; Necessaries; Privileged Communication.

marriage

n. the joining of a male and female in matrimony by a person qualified by law to perform the ceremony (a minister, priest, judge, justice of the peace, or some similar official), after having obtained a valid marriage license (which requires a blood test for venereal disease in about a third of the states and a waiting period from one to five days in several). The standard age for marriage without parental consent is 18 except for Georgia and Wyoming where it is 16, Rhode Island where women can marry at 16, and Mississippi in which it is 17 for boys and 15 for girls. More than half the states allow marriages at lesser ages with parental consent, going as low as 14 for both sexes in Alabama, Texas and Utah. Marriages in which the age requirements are not met can be annulled. Fourteen states recognize so-called "common law marriages" which establish a legal marriage for people who have lived together by agreement as husband and wife for a lengthy period of time without legal formalities.

marriage

the agreement of two persons of the opposing sex to become man and wife. In most legal systems, marriage is accepted and treated as a contract, but it is one the incidents of which the parties cannot vary. There are formalities by way of advertisement. Similar provisions apply in Scotland, although irregular marriage by COHABITATION WITH HABIT AND REPUTE is known. There is a prohibition (in most Western countries) against marriage to other persons while the marriage subsists, this being restrained by the crime of bigamy. The basis of the institution is the permanent and indissoluble union of a man and woman. Relaxation of divorce laws has made the permanence of the relationship de facto contingent. Attempts have been made by homosexuals to marry but these have failed, instead alternative institutions have been established. (See CIVIL PARTNERSHIP.) Most systems prevent the marriage of parties related one to the other, and the scope of the restriction is usually defined by reference to PROHIBITED DEGREES. Restriction is also usually placed on the age of parties. In the UK, it is 16.

In the context of immigration where a person has been given leave to enter the UK temporarily and then marries someone settled here, that person may apply for an extension of stay as a spouse, initially for a period of 12 months and thereafter for settlement. An extension, however, will not be granted unless the Secretary of State is satisfied with the following:

(i) the marriage was not entered into primarily to obtain settlement here
(ii) the parties have met
(iii) the applicant has not remained in breach of immigration laws
(iv) the marriage is not taking place after a decision to deport or a recommendation for deportation has been made
(v) the marriage has not been terminated
(vi) each of the parties intends to live permanently with the other as his or her spouse
(vii) there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and their dependants, without recourse to public funds, in accommodation of their own or that they occupy themselves
(viii) the parties will be able to maintain themselves and their dependants adequately without resource to public funds.

MARRIAGE. A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint lives, in the union which ought to exist between husband and wife. By the terms freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful marriage. Dig. 23, 2, 1; Ayl. Parer. 359; Stair, Inst. tit. 4, s. 1; Shelford on Mar. and Div. c. 1, s. 1.
2. To make a valid marriage, the parties must be willing to contract, Able to contract, and have actually contracted.
3.-1. They must be willing to contract. Those persons, therefore, who have no legal capacity in point of intellect, to make a contract, cannot legally marry, as idiots, lunatics, and infant; males under the age of fourteen, and females under the age of twelve, and when minors over those ages marry, they must have the consent of their parents or guardians.
4. There is no will when the person is mistaken in the party whom he intended to marry; as, if Peter intending to marry Maria, through error or mistake of person, in fact marries Eliza; but an error in the fortune, as if a man marries a woman whom he believes to be rich, and he finds her to be poor; or in the quality, as if he marry a woman whom he took to be chaste, and whom he finds of an opposite character, this does not invalidate the marriage, because in these cases the error is only of some quality or accident, and not in the person. Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 9.
5. When the marriage is obtained by force or fraud, it is clear that there is no consent; it is, therefore, void ab initio, and may be treated as null by every court in which its validity may incidentally be called in question. 2 Kent, Com. 66; Shelf. on Marr. and Div. 199; 2 Hagg. Cons. R. 246; 5 Paige, 43.
6.-2. Generally, all persons who are of sound mind, and have arrived to years of maturity, are able to contract marriage. To this general rule, however, there are many exceptions, among which the following may be enumerated.
7.-1. The previous marriage of the party to another person who is still living.
8.-2. Consanguinity, or affinity between the parties within the prohibited degree. It seems that persons in the descending or ascending line, however remote from each other, cannot lawfully marry; such marriages are against nature; but when we come to consider collaterals, it is not so easy to fix the forbidden degrees, by clear and established principles. Vaugh. 206; S. C. 2 Vent. 9. In several of the United States, marriages within the limited degrees are made void by statute. 2 Kent, Com. 79; Vide Poynt. on Marr. and Div. ch. 7.
9.-3. Impotency, (q.v.) which must have existed at the time of the marriage, and be incurable. 2 Phillim. Rep. 10; 2 Hagg. Rep. 832.
10.-4. Adultery. By statutory provision in Pennsylvania, when a person is convicted of adultery with another person, or is divorced from her husband, or his wife, he or she cannot afterwards marry the partner of his or her guilt. This provision is copied from the civil law. Poth. Contr. de Mariage, part 3, c. 3, art. 7. And the same provision exists in the French code civil, art. 298. See 1 Toull. n. 555.
11.-3. The parties must not only be willing and able, but must have actually contracted in due form of law.
12. The common law requires no particular ceremony to the valid celebration of marriage. The consent of the parties is all that is necessary, and as marriage is said to be a contract jure gentium, that consent is all that is needful by natural or public law. If the contract be made per verba de presenti, or if made per verba de futuro, and followed by consummation, it amounts to a valid marriage, and which the parties cannot dissolve, if otherwise competent; it is not necessary that a clergyman should be present to give validity to the marriage; the consent of the parties may be declared before a magistrate, or simply before witnesses; or subsequently confessed or acknowledged, or the marriage may even be inferred from continual cohabitation, and reputation as husband and wife, except in cases of civil actions for adultery, or public prosecutions for bigamy. 1 Silk. 119; 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 171; Burr. Settl. Cas. 509; 1 Dow, 148; 2 Dow, 482; 4 John. 2; 18 John. R. 346; 6 Binn, 405; 1 Penn. R. 452; 2 Watts, R. 9. But a promise to marry at a future time, cannot, by any process of law, be converted into a marriage, though the breach of such promise will be the foundation of an action for damages.
13. In some of the states, statutory regulations have been made on this subject. In Maine and Massachusetts, the marriage must be made in the presence, and with the assent of a magistrate, or a stated or ordained minister of the gospel. 7 Mass. Rep. 48; 2 Greenl. Rep. 102. The statute of Connecticut on this subject, requires the marriage to be celebrated by a clergyman or magistrate, and requires the previous publication of the intention of marriage, and the consent of parents; it inflicts a penalty on those who disobey its regulations. The marriage, however, would probably be considered valid, although the regulations of the statutes had not been observed. Reeve's Dom. Rel. 196, 200, 290. The rule in Pennsylvania is, that the marriage is valid, although the directions of the statute have not been observed. 2 Watts, Rep. 9; 1 How. S. C. R. 219. The same rule probably obtains in New Jersey; 2 Halsted, 138; New Hampshire; 2 N. H. Rep. 268; and Kentucky. 3 Marsh. R. 370. In Louisiana, a license must be obtained from the parish judge of the parish in which at least one of the parties is domiciliated, and the marriage must be celebrated before a priest or minister of a religious sect, or an authorized justice of the peace; it must be celebrated in the presence of three witnesses of full age, and an act must be made of the celebration, signed by the person who celebrated the marriage, by the parties and the witnesses. Code, art. 101 to 107. The 89th article of the Code declares, that such marriages only are recognized by law, as are contracted and solemnized according to the rules which it prescribes. But the Code does not declare null a marriage not preceded by a license, and not evidenced by an act signed by a certain number of witnesses and the parties, nor does it make such an act exclusive evidence of the marriage. The laws relating to forms and ceremonies are directory to those who are authorized to celebrate marriage. 6 L. R. 470.
14. A marriage made in a foreign country, if good there, would, in general, be held good in this country, unless when it would work injustice, or be contra bonos mores, or be repugnant to the settled principles and policy of our laws. Story, Confl. of Laws, Sec. 87; Shelf. on M. & D. 140; 1 Bland. 188; 2 Bland. 485; 3 John. Ch. R. 190; 8 Ala. R. 48.
15. Marriage is a contract intended in its origin to endure till the death of one of the contracting parties. It is dissolved by death or divorce.
16. In some cases, as in prosecutions for bigamy, by the common law, an actual marriage must be proved in order to convict the accused. See 6 Conn. R. 446. This rule is much qualified. See Bigamy.
17. But for many purposes it may be proved by circumstances; for example, cohabitation; acknowledgment by the parties themselves that they were married; their reception as such by their friends and relations; their correspondence, on being casually separated, addressing each other as man and wife; 2 Bl. R. 899; declaring, deliberately, that the marriage took place in a foreign country; 2 Moo. & R. 503; describing their children, in parish registers of baptism, as their legitimate offspring; 2 Str. 1073; 8 Ves. 417; or when the parties pass for husband and wife by common reputation. 1 Bl. R. 639; S. C. 4 Burr. 2057; Dougl. 174; Cowp. 594; 3 Swans. R. 400; 8 S. & R. 159; 2 Hayw. R. 3; 1 Taylor, R. 121; 1 H. & McH. 152; 2 N. & McC. 114; 5 Day, R. 290; 4 R. & M. 507; 9 Mass. R. 414; 4 John. 52; 18 John. 346. After their death, the presumption is generally conclusive. Cowp. 591; 6 T. R. 330.
18. The civil effects of marriage are the following: 1. It confirms all matrimonial agreements between the parties.
19.-2. It vests in the husband all the personal property of the wife, that which is in possession absolutely, and choses in action, upon the condition that he shall reduce them to possession; it also vests in the husband right to manage the real estate of the wife, and enjoy the profits arising from it during their joint lives, and after her death, an estate by the curtesy when a child has been born. It vests in the wife after the husband's death, an estate in dower in the husband's lands, and a right to a certain part of his personal estate, when he dies intestate. In some states, the wife now retains her separate property by statute.
20.-3. It creates the civil affinity which each contracts towards the relations of the other.
21.-4. It gives the husband marital authority over the person of his wife.
22.-5. The wife acquires thereby the name of her husband, as they are considered as but one, of which he is the head: erunt duo in carne una.
23.-6. In general, the wife follows the condition of her husband.
24.-7. The wife, on her marriage, loses her domicil and gains that of her husband.
25.-8. One of the effects of marriage is to give paternal power over the issue.
26.-9. The children acquire the domicil of their father.
27.-10. It gives to the children who are the fruits of the marriage, the rights of kindred not only with the father and mother, but all their kin.
28.-11. It makes all the issue legitimate.
Vide, generally, 1 Bl. Com. 433; 15 Vin. Ab. 252; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Com. Dig. Baron and Feme, B; Id. Appx. b. t.; 2 Sell. Pr. 194; Ayl. Parergon, 359; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 94; Rutherf. Inst. 162; 2 Supp. to Ves. jr. 334; Roper on Husband & Wife; Poynter on Marriage and Divorce; Merl. Repert. h.t.; Pothier, Traite du Contrat de Marriage; Toullier, h.t.; Chit. Pract. Index, h.t.; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t., Burge on the Confl. of Laws, Index, h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.

MARRIAGE, PROMISE OF. A promise of marriage is a contract entered into between a man and woman that they will marry each other.
2. When the promise is made between persons competent to contract matrimony, an action lies for a breach of it. Vide Promise of Marriage.

marriage

mar·riage

marriage

mar•riage

Marriage

Marriage

Marriage

marriage

marriage

marriage

marriage

marriage

marriage

marriage inequality

marriage made in heaven

shotgun marriage

traditional marriage

white marriage

an open marriage

dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

sham marriage

marriage of convenience

marriages are made in heaven

save (oneself) for marriage

Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage.

a marriage made in heaven

Marriages are made in heaven.

marriage of convenience

a ˌmarriage/ˌmatch made in ˈheaven

a ˌshotgun ˈwedding/ˈmarriage

marriage made in heaven, a

marriage

marriage,

Marriage as a Societal Bond

Forms of Marriage

Bibliography

marriage

Marriage

REFERENCES

What does it mean when you dream about marriage?

Marriage

marriage

Marriage

marriage

mar·riage

marriage

marriage

Marriage

Further readings

Cross-references

marriage

marriage

Marriage

Marriage

marriage

Synonyms for marriage

noun wedding

Synonyms

noun union

Synonyms

Synonyms for marriage

noun the state of being united as husband and wife

Synonyms

noun the act or ceremony by which two people become husband and wife

Synonyms

Synonyms for marriage

noun the state of being a married couple voluntarily joined for life (or until divorce)

Synonyms

Related Words

noun two people who are married to each other

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Related Words

noun the act of marrying

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Related Words

noun a close and intimate union

Related Words