Marriage
Marriage (from Latin matrimonīum) is a social institution, present in a large number of cultures, that establishes a conjugal bond between people, recognized and consolidated through community practices and legal, customary, religious or moral norms. The marriage union establishes between the spouses —and in many cases also between the families of origin of these— rights and obligations that vary considerably according to the norms that regulate it in each society. Marriage constitutes a reality that has its own way of being, which can and should be regulated by the legal system, but it is not created or defined by law.
Marriage rules are linked to those that regulate sexual relations (incest, adultery, sexual exclusivity, monogamy, polygamy), reproduction and parentage of children, according to the rules of the current kinship system. Marriage is usually closely related to the family and in some cases constitutes its core. Rules about the end of marriage include those about divorce.[citation needed]
At various times in history and in different places, marriage could be carried out without taking into account the will of the contracting parties, even against their will or by force. In the last two centuries, the requirement of the free and full consent of the contracting parties to contract marriage has been universalized, as one of the fundamental human rights. Regarding the gender of the contracting parties, in recent years the LGBT movement has obtained in several countries the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
In today's societies there are two main forms of marriage: civil marriage and religious marriage. In the first case, it is the laws of the State that establish the rights, duties and requirements, while in the second case the marriage is regulated according to the norms or customs of the religion under which it is celebrated. The coexistence of both forms and the recognition of their validity vary according to each society.
According to the estimates of the United Nations Population Division, in 1970 68.8% of women between 15 and 49 years of age were in a union or married and it is projected that in 2030 this percentage will drop to 63.1%.
Etymology
The etymological origin of the word marriage as the name of the institution under that name is not clear. It is usually derived from the expression "matris munium" coming from two Latin words: the first "matris", which means "mother" and, the second, "munium", "tax or care", coming to mean "care of the mother by the husband/father" 34;, while it was considered that the mother was the one who contributed the most to the formation and upbringing of the children. Another possible derivation would come from & # 34; matreum muniens & # 34; , meaning the idea of defense and protection of the mother, implying the obligation of the man towards the mother of his children.
For a broader understanding of the expression "marriage" In its etymological aspect in many of the Romance languages, the concept of the marriage contract considered by Roman Law must be taken into account, which is based on the idea that the possibility of being a mother, that nature gives to the nubile woman, took her to procreate a family.
A reading, which seeks to go beyond the pure etymology of the two terms that make up the word, derives the original meaning of the second term "monium", which is also found in patri-monium and merci-monium, and which alludes to "agent" or "action": according to these sources, the concept of marriage would refer to an action on the part of the woman and that seems to go back to the role of women in matriarchal societies.
In contrast to this Western concept, we can mention the case of the Arabic language, in which it is understood as a «coital contract» or «penetration contract», according to the translation of the expression عَقْد نِكاح (`aqd nikāḩ) into Spanish.[citation required] However, the most widely used term in Arabic to refer to this institution is زَواج (zawāý), which literally means "union, pairing".
Biological and anthropological bases
According to paleoanthropologist Owen Lovejoy, Ardipithecus ramidus, an ancestor of humans, would have found the advantage of walking on its two feet in order to have its hands free to bring food to a female. This behavior would have lessened the fight between this class of hominids for mating, since the female would prefer the supporter male more than the alpha male. Likewise, this behavior would have made the old keratin spines present in the penis of these hominids disappear, which in turn would have decreased reproductive tactile sensitivity and increased the duration of intercourse, which would generate a longer duration of copulation in our species compared to of our ancestors, favoring the creation of a more stable bond in the couple and with it monogamy. Alan Dixson concludes that “The propensity of men and women to form long-term relationships for reproductive purposes is an ancient trait, probably present in the earliest members of the human race. The existence of such relationships between the sexes is universal in extant human populations, and their existence in ancestral forms provided the biological basis for the later appearance of marriage.
History of marriage in Europe
During the third century of our era, in the West, there was a passage from a society in which marriage was by no means an institution created for the whole of society, to a society in which it is taken for granted, as natural that marriage is a fundamental institution for everyone.
In non-Christian, Jewish or Muslim societies, marriage was not the norm, marriage was used only by the powerful, by the upper classes. In ancient Rome chastity was not a virtue, it was not necessary to marry to have sexual relations or to have children. Only when a member of an elevated social class wanted to pass on his heritage to his direct descendants, instead of being received by other family members or his friends, would he decide to get married. But most of the time the assets were bequeathed to a friend or a very dear person, not to the children. When there was a lack of patrimony or assets, marriage was an dispensable procedure, the slaves directly lacked the right to do so.
Greek does not have a specific word to designate marriage, since there was no civil or religious process. However, the word by which marriage is usually translated in Koine Greek is γάμος (gámos), a noun from the Greek γαμέω (gaméo), whose meaning is "to take a wife, to marry".) literally the guarantee, the bond, that is, the act by which the father who is the head of the family gave his daughter to another man. The city was not a witness nor did it record any minutes for this private event between two families. This contract was only made when there was heritage to inherit. The heirs of the woman in Ancient Greece were the children but not the husband.
The dowry provided by the bride's family was not the property of the husband. When the woman died without children or in case of divorce, the dowry returned to the woman's family. The woman's guardian (her father or her brother) could file for divorce (even against the woman's wishes) but she did not have the right to request the dissolution of the contract. She also had no right to choose her future husband. In case of divorce, she did not receive any part of the matrimonial assets, but simply the return of the dowry that she contributed.
The objective of the ἐγγύη (engúē) was to give birth to legitimate children who could inherit the paternal assets. Strict fidelity was required from the wife, in case of adultery she was returned to the parental home. For the male, adultery, especially with slaves, slaves or prostitutes, was allowed.
In Sparta, men did not live with their women, but the goal was to produce strong boys. The man would meet his wife in the dark and after having sex with her, he would leave to meet in his bedroom with the rest of the young men. which entails a life in common without fetters". Men, who were generally twice the age of their wives, were encouraged to "lend" their wives to strong young men. Plutarch also mentions that women sometimes took a lover so that their infant son could inherit two plots of land instead of one.
In Northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, there was a slow replacement of the Germanic law -by which the marriage contract was established between the bridegroom and the guardian of the woman- by the Christian civil codes -where required the consent of the woman. By the 12th century the legal principle of marriage by consent was established and imposed marriages were beginning to be left behind. The urbanization process also contributed to this process since it partly freed women from the task of procreation.
General characteristics
The historical and traditional form of marriage is between a man and a woman, with the purpose of establishing a family. This orthodox definition has been questioned, on the one hand, because recognition has been granted to unions between a man and a woman with purposes practically identical to marriage, but which adopt different forms and names (see infra the cohabitation societies ). On the other hand, the development of new family models have separated the reproductive function of marriage: unmarried couples with children or married couples without children, single mothers and fathers or mothers and fathers with a partner of the same sex. Finally, in various countries and states there has been an expansion of rights that has recognized same-sex marriage.
In these cases, the marriage is performed, generally, by the civil or State form, because the norms of many religions do not allow this type of union within their bosom.
However, other varieties of marriage have been recognized at different times and places.
Monogamy is the most common practice.
Marriage is considered an important institution because it helps define the structure of society, creating a bond of kinship between people (usually) not close by blood line (for example, there are communities where marriage is customary). between cousins or between relatives of different degrees; see the entries on endogamy and incest). One of its widely recognized functions is the procreation and socialization of children (although it is not absolutely necessary to marry to have children, nor do all heterosexual marriages have them), as well as regulating the relationship between individuals and the resulting offspring. in kinship, social role and status.
The role of sex and love in marriage has been studied with different approaches: pedagogical and question and answer.
In Western-influenced societies, a distinction is usually made between religious marriage and civil marriage, the first being a cultural institution derived from the precepts of a religion, and the second a legal form that implies recognition and a set of legal duties and rights and culturally defined.
Law and marriage
The general characteristics of the institution of marriage included in some legal systems are duality, heterosexuality and content in terms of rights and duties. From the XX century, in societies with Western influence and originating from liberalism, the principle of equality is also included, with a increasing weight in derived regulations.
- The duality of marriage is the principle by which the institution is intended, in principle, to unite two persons and link them to their coexistence and procreation. In some jurisdictions (especially those of the Islamic base) it is recognized that a man may marry more than one woman. But even in this case the institution links one person to another, since the various women that a Muslim may have are not united, in principle, by any marriage nexus or have rights and obligations between themselves.
- Traditionally, marriage requires the membership of each spouse to one of both sexes, so that a man and a woman are the only ones who, in principle, can marry. This principle is being amended in some countries in favour of the principle of equality, in order to recognize the parity of rights and obligations between men and women and to extend the benefits of the institution of marriage to same-sex couples.
- The content of the rights and duties of the spouses varies according to the legal system of each country, but generally all impose the obligation on them to live together and to remain faithful, to cope with each other, to contribute to the lifting of the family burdens and to exercise jointly the domestic authority and parental authority over the children, who are presumed to be common except evidence to the contrary. The singularities of the content of marriage in terms of the rights and duties of spouses derive in each country from its own cultural conception of the institution, which has shaped it in its positive legislation and in its legal practice.
Legal Effects
Marriage produces a series of legal effects between the spouses and against third parties, of which the fundamental ones are marital duties or obligations, kinship, the acquisition of succession rights between the spouses and the economic regime of the marriage, which has different modalities in different countries. In addition, in several countries the emancipation of the minor spouse is produced by law, with which he is freed from the parental authority of his parents and may henceforth act as if he were an adult, even if he later divorces.
Types of marriage
Religious marriage
Religious marriage can be defined as a union whose essential structure is required by the dogmas of the religion to which the contracting parties belong.
Marriage in Christian Churches
In the Catholic Church
For the Catholic Church, marriage is an alliance by which a man and a woman constitute an intimate community of life and love. By its nature it is ordered to the good of the spouses and to the generation and education of children. Between the baptized, marriage is also a sacrament. For this reason, a couple of pagans who, after years, receive baptism, do not need to repeat any rite or ceremony: at the moment of receiving it, their conjugal bond is becomes a sacrament.
According to the Catholic Church, the origin of marriage between a couple is not only cultural, but comes from human nature itself insofar as (as the book of Genesis says (1-27), in the Bible) at the beginning "God created them male and female." Marriage would therefore be an institution and not a cultural product whose main characteristics -unity, indissolubility and openness to life- would be defined by the very nature of the Catholic concept of love between man and woman, which requires husbands or spouses love each other forever and that reaches its highest expression in procreation. For this reason, the Catholic Church has traditionally opposed adultery, polygamy, denial of fertility and divorce. Also, recently, it has spoken out against both laws that allow unions between people of the same sex and those that equate the legal status of said unions to that of marriage, because he understands that "it would mean not only approving deviant behavior and turning it into a model for today's society, but also obfuscating fundamental values that belong to the common heritage of humanity".
For Catholics, the foundation of marriage is found in Matthew 19:3-9; Mark 10:9; Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 and in the following words from Genesis:
God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him, and created them male and female. That is why the man will leave his father and his mother and join his wife; and they will come to be both one flesh...
The celebration of marriage according to the Roman rite was not declared obligatory until the XVI century, at the Council of Trent.
In Protestant and Evangelical Denominations
In Protestantism and evangelical Christianity, marriage is above all a civil act resulting from a personal choice of the two spouses. Most do not consider marriage as a religious celebration but as an event that is the responsibility of the authorities civilians.
Jewish marriage
In Judaism, marriage is based on the laws of the Torah, in the union the couple dedicates themselves exclusively to the other, this contract is called kiddushin (Hebrew: אירוסין). Although procreation is not the only purpose, in a Jewish marriage the commandment to have children is expected to be fulfilled. In a spiritual way, marriage is understood as the union of two people in one soul; Therefore, according to Judaism, a man is considered incomplete if he is not married and his soul is only a part that belongs to a larger whole that has to be unified. The Hebrew Bible describes several marriages with multiple wives, polygyny. It is one of the most common contracts depicted in the Old Testament. Ashkenazi Jews are prohibited from marrying multiple wives. However, among the ancient Hebrews, marriage had no religious connotation, therefore the involvement of a rabbi was not required. Since the wife was viewed as property, her husband could obtain a divorce for any reason and at any time.
The midrash text (Hebrew: מדרש, “explanation”) refers to a same-sex wedding. In Masorti Judaism, homosexual unions were approved in 2012 and Reform Judaism approved civil same-sex marriages in 1996, however it made it clear that religious marriages were reserved for a man and a woman. In March 2000, the Central Conference of Rabbis, an organization of Reform Judaism, accepted the performance of religious ceremonies among Jewish people regardless of their sexual orientation.
Marriage in Islam
Marriage is a legal contract signed by the contracting parties, under Islamic law it is called nikah, a man and a woman; Islamic law, through fiqh, considers that only the husband has legal permission to obtain a divorce for any reason. Sunnis, the largest Muslim group, celebrate marriage under the obligatory presence of at least two witnesses, consisting of a guardian of the bride and another guest. In contrast, in Shi'ism, marriages between Shi'ite Islamists can be celebrated without the presence of witnesses.
Marriage in Hinduism
In Hinduism, marriage is a sacred duty, including both religious and social obligations. There are a variety of types of marriage, such as the gandharva vivaha (instant marriage with mutual consent) and the rakshasa vivaha or also called “demon marriage”, where the couple kidnaps to your wife. Arranged marriage is still present in much of the Indian subcontinent. Hindu weddings are large celebrations enlivened with music, dances and large crowds. Rituals and meals are also interpreted to bless the couple. There are both conservative and liberal views of gay marriage in Hinduism, yet they have been celebrated. The erotic text kama-sutra includes references to "third gender" marriages and homosexual weddings, where "same-sex couples are joined in complete faith".
Buddhism's position on marriage
Buddhism regards marriage as a secular matter and does not consider it to be prohibited or obligatory. Buddhists follow the civil laws of their respective governments. Although the ceremony is entirely civil, some Buddhist couples obtain the blessing of monks at local temples; In the same way, being considered secular, there are no treaties or texts related to divorce.
Civil marriage
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Civil marriage is marriage that is contracted, formed and registered with civil authorities (civil law, public administration, judges or municipal authorities) and not following the rite of a religion (religious marriage).
However, civil marriage does not necessarily exclude religious marriage, and in fact in numerous legal systems; in the event of a religious marriage, civil marriage takes place simultaneously.
Civil marriage is the legal marriage that takes place in accordance with the existing legal provisions.
In some countries the institution of civil marriage responds to a willingness to separate the institution from marriage from the influence of religious institutions; thus registering itself in the movement of separation of Church and State or secularism, which begins in the eighteenth century.
At the civil marriage ceremony the bride does not usually wear her typical dress to that effect unlike that of religious marriage. Also, in some countries the marriage book or "family book" is usually given at the end of the ceremony, which is a document with which the conjugal union is demonstrated and other events are recorded, such as the births and adoptions of children, the death of one of the members of the family, etc.Marriage according to consents
Kidnapping marriage
Arranged marriage
Marriage of convenience
Forced marriage
Forced marriage is the term used to describe a marriage in which one or both parties are married against their will and by force. Forced marriages are common in Asia and Africa. The majority of forced marriages are women, although there are cases in which the victims are men, who are forced to marry to cleanse the honor of the woman's family. Forced marriage violates human rights, is against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and can be considered a form of slavery.
Marriage according to age
Child marriage is a type of marriage in which minors often marry before puberty. Child marriages are common in many parts of the world, especially parts of Asia and Africa. These marriages are often forced. Child marriage is a common practice in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Child marriage has negative effects, including neglect of education, poor health, and abuse. According to the UN, the ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage They are: Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Malawi.
Marriage according to the origin of the spouses
Marriage according to the sex of the contracting parties
Legal LGBT Activity Marriage Civil Unions Unregistered legal guardian or cohabitation (franjas: Non-binding certificates are offered) Recognition of same-sex marriages carried out in other subnational entities or other countries Limited recognition of unions in other countries No recognition Restrictions on freedom of expression and association Illegal LGBT activity Prison of iurenot implemented de facto (without arrests/detentions over the last three years) Arrests, imprisonment or illegal detention de facto Prison or death penalty of iurenot implemented de facto Death penalty (franjas: fatal cases in areas under military control or extrajudicial executions by local or national authorities)
Among the forms of marriage, we recognize heterosexual, homosexual (same-sex), bisexual, and mixed marriages. One of the forms of mixed marriage, or of people of different sexual orientation, is lavender marriage (in English lavender marriage), which is a marriage between a heterosexual person with a homosexual or bisexual person to hide the fact that, due to social, religious or family ostracism, or due to social pressure from society, religion or family.
Same-sex marriage legally or socially recognizes a marriage formed by spouses of the same biological sex or gender identity.
The first contemporary laws to recognize same-sex marriage were passed during the first decade of the 21st century. As of January 29, 2023, twenty-eight countries (Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Spain, United States, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Uruguay) and several subnational jurisdictions of Mexico allow same-sex couples to marry. However, there are still countries where same-sex marriage is illegal, as well as those that penalize only relationships between people of the same gender, considering them criminal.
Marriage by number of spouses
Servinakuy
The servinakuy or sirviñaco is an institution of Andean origin, in force in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, which constitutes a type of trial marriage. The servinakuy was persecuted during the viceregal era, despite which it survived and consolidated. The servinakuy is formalized with the formal and public commitment of the spouses to establish a relationship of marital cohabitation, including sexual relations, without any obligation to maintain it over time. In the event that the servinakuy is satisfactory for both contracting parties, the customary rule is to contract a permanent marriage, subject to the duration regulations of each community. In the event that the servinakuy is not satisfactory to the contracting parties, any of them can terminate it, without implying any moral or legal damage. If there were children, traditionally they remained in the care of the mother, although more recently the rules of shared care established in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are increasingly applied.