Marriage law is the body of legal specifications and requirements and other laws that regulate the initiation, continuation, and validity of marriages, an aspect of family law , that determine the validity of a marriage , and which vary considerably among countries in terms of what can and cannot be legally recognized by the state.
129-431: A marriage, by definition, bestows rights and obligations on the married parties, and sometimes on relatives as well, being the sole mechanism for the creation of affinal ties (in-laws). Historically, many societies have given sets of rights and obligations to husbands that have been very different from the sets of rights and obligations given to wives. In particular, the control of marital property, inheritance rights, and
258-424: A minor 's marriage automatically emancipates the minor , or increases their legal rights beyond allowing the minor to consent to certain medical treatments. The minimum marriage age was 12 years for females and 14 years for males under English civil law until 1753. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. The English Marriage Act 1753 required a marriage to be covered by
387-611: A church by a priest. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) introduced more specific requirements, ruling that future marriages would be valid only if witnessed by the pastor of the parish or the local ordinary (the bishop of the diocese) or by the delegate of one of the said witnesses, the marriage being invalid otherwise, even if witnessed by a Catholic priest. This ruling was not accepted in the newly Protestant nations of Europe, nor by Protestants who lived in Roman Catholic countries or their colonies, nor by Eastern Orthodox Christians . It
516-459: A civil marriage may take place as part of the religious marriage ceremony, although they are theoretically distinct. In most American states, a wedding must be officiated by the justice of the peace in order for it to be recognized. However, priests , ministers , rabbis , and many other religious authorities can act as viable agents of the state. In some countries, such as France , Spain , Germany , Turkey , Argentina , Japan and Russia , it
645-779: A classificatory terminology groups many different types of relationships under one term. For example, the word brother in English-speaking societies indicates a son of one's same parent; thus, English-speaking societies use the word brother as a descriptive term referring to this relationship only. In many other classificatory kinship terminologies, in contrast, a person's male first cousin (whether mother's brother's son, mother's sister's son, father's brother's son, father's sister's son) may also be referred to as brothers. The major patterns of kinship systems that are known which Lewis Henry Morgan identified through kinship terminology in his 1871 work Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of
774-541: A cost-effective public health measure. In the 1980s and 1990s, many US state legislatures considered laws requiring premarital HIV testing, though only a small number were adopted, and were only briefly active before being repealed. As of 2010, premarital HIV testing is legally mandated in Bahrain , certain provinces of China, Libya , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates , and Uzbekistan . In many jurisdictions,
903-524: A court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to marry, in accordance with the requirements described in Section 304." Historically, Section 56 of the California Civil Code (1872) fixed 15 as the age at which a female could marry without parental consent. In 1921, the age was raised to 18. In Delaware, the age of consent was 10 years until 1871 when it was lowered to 7 years. Under
1032-421: A father and his brothers. Kinship terminologies include the terms of address used in different languages or communities for different relatives and the terms of reference used to identify the relationship of these relatives to ego or to each other. Kin terminologies can be either descriptive or classificatory . When a descriptive terminology is used, a term refers to only one specific type of relationship, while
1161-470: A father in relation to a child) or reflect an absolute (e.g. the difference between a mother and a childless woman). Degrees of relationship are not identical to heirship or legal succession. Many codes of ethics consider the bond of kinship as creating obligations between the related persons stronger than those between strangers, as in Confucian filial piety . In a more general sense, kinship may refer to
1290-403: A feature of humans, but also of many other primates , was yet to emerge and society was considered to be a uniquely human affair. As a result, early kinship theorists saw an apparent need to explain not only the details of how human social groups are constructed, their patterns, meanings and obligations, but also why they are constructed at all. The why explanations thus typically presented
1419-419: A few US states. In several jurisdictions, such as parts of Canada, while the law recognizes unmarried couples for various purposes, such relations are not common-law marriages within the original meaning of this legal concept. (see common-law marriage vs. cohabitation ). The informal use of the term "common-law marriage" has given rise to many public misconceptions regarding this legal institution. The status in
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#17328555387801548-406: A kind of relation on all peoples, insisting that kinship consists in relations of consanguinity and that kinship as consanguinity is a universal condition.(Schneider 1984, 72) Schneider preferred to focus on these often ignored processes of "performance, forms of doing, various codes for conduct, different roles" (p. 72) as the most important constituents of kinship. His critique quickly prompted
1677-684: A language, both in the uses of terms for kin but also in the fluidities of language, meaning, and networks. His field studies criticized the ideas of structural-functional stability of kinship groups as corporations with charters that lasted long beyond the lifetimes of individuals, which had been the orthodoxy of British Social Anthropology . This sparked debates over whether kinship could be resolved into specific organized sets of rules and components of meaning, or whether kinship meanings were more fluid, symbolic, and independent of grounding in supposedly determinate relations among individuals or groups, such as those of descent or prescriptions for marriage. From
1806-507: A law to replace or modify it. In 1275, in England, as part of the rape law, the Statute of Westminster 1275 , it was a misdemeanor to "ravish" a "maiden within age", whether with or without her consent. The phrase "within age" was interpreted by jurist Sir Edward Coke to mean the age of marriage, which at the time was 12 years. A 1576 law imposed more severe punishments for ravishing a girl for which
1935-473: A legislated minimum, common law (which specifies a minimum of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males) prevails; the estimated effect of a common law is similar to a legislated minimum of 13 or less. In California, the governing law is found in California Family Code sections 302 and 304 (2019): "An unmarried person under 18 years of age may be issued a marriage license upon obtaining
2064-520: A license (requiring parental consent for those under 21) or the publication of banns (which parents of those under 21 could forbid). Additionally, the Church of England dictated that both the bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their families. English common law inherited from England remained in force in the United States unless and until a specific state enacted
2193-421: A man and a woman such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners." Edmund Leach argued that no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures, but offered a list of ten rights frequently associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children (with specific rights differing across cultures). There is wide cross-cultural variation in
2322-475: A marriage relationship may also be created by the operation of the law alone, as in common-law marriage , sometimes called "marriage by habit and repute." However, the term "common-law marriage" has wider informal use, and is commonly used to refer to cohabiting couples, regardless of any rights they may have. The institution of common-law marriage, in its original legal meaning, has been abolished in almost all jurisdictions that used to have it, and only survives in
2451-420: A maternal grandfather and his sister are referred to as paanth ngan-ngethe and addressed with the vocative ngethin. In Bardi , a father and his sister are irrmoorrgooloo ; a man's wife and his children are aalamalarr. In Murrinh-patha , nonsingular pronouns are differentiated not only by the gender makeup of the group, but also by the members' interrelation. If the members are in a sibling-like relation,
2580-400: A more or less literal basis. Kinship can also refer to a principle by which individuals or groups of individuals are organized into social groups , roles, categories and genealogy by means of kinship terminologies . Family relations can be represented concretely (mother, brother, grandfather) or abstractly by degrees of relationship (kinship distance). A relationship may be relative (e.g.
2709-651: A national level are: Bolivia , Croatia , Cyprus , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Italy , Latvia , Monaco , Montenegro , and San Marino . These developments have created a political and religious reaction in some countries, including in England , where the Church of England , after long debate, officially banned blessings of gay couples by Church of England clergy, and in the United States , which continues to experience conflicts, based upon religious grounds. Kinship
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#17328555387802838-510: A new generation of anthropologists to reconsider how they conceptualized, observed and described social relationships ('kinship') in the cultures they studied. Marriage age in the United States This is an accepted version of this page In the United States, the minimum age at which a person can marry , with or without parental consent or other authorization, is set by each state and territory, either by statute or where
2967-554: A non-binding ceremony in Israel and fly abroad (often to nearby Cyprus) to contract a legal marriage that is then recognized in Israel. In the U.S. , many laws banning interracial marriage , which were state laws , were gradually repealed between 1948 and 1967. The U.S. Supreme Court declared all such laws unconstitutional in the case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967. Polygamy —being married to more than one spouse—is illegal in most countries. Where polygamous marriages are allowed, it
3096-401: A person is able to lawfully marry, and whether parental or other consents are required, vary from country to country. In the U.S. the minimum age for marriage without parental and/or judicial approval is 18 except for Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21); but most states allow exceptions to the general minimum age in some circumstances (see Marriage age in the United States ). In England and Wales
3225-491: A person who is 22 cannot marry a person under 18 years old. Indiana is nearly the same, although a person who is 21 can marry a person who is 17 years old. Minimum age in 50 states: Recently, several states have revisited the legality of child marriage. Since 2017, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Arizona, Delaware, Tennessee, New Jersey, Missouri, Ohio and many more have changed their law to set or raise their minimum legal age for marriage. In Massachusetts ,
3354-444: A reason to reject the claim that there is a long tradition of defining marriage between one man and one woman", the apparent mutual exclusivity of polygamy and same-sex marriage may reflect a view that "advocates should continue to distance same-sex marriage from plural marriage" even though "polygamy and same-sex marriage may share some common ground". Some countries give legal recognition to marriages performed in another country under
3483-462: A relationship between two entities (e.g. the word 'sister' denotes the relationship between the speaker or some other entity and another feminine entity who shares the parents of the former), trirelational kin-terms—also known as triangular, triadic, ternary, and shared kin-terms—denote a relationship between three distinct entities. These occur commonly in Australian Aboriginal languages with
3612-479: A relationship for same-sex couples, establishing registered partnerships , which gave those in same-sex relationships "most rights of married heterosexuals, but not the right to adopt or obtain joint custody of a child". In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. As of February 2024, marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 37 countries-
3741-412: A similarity or affinity between entities on the basis of some or all of their characteristics that are under focus. This may be due to a shared ontological origin, a shared historical or cultural connection, or some other perceived shared features that connect the two entities. For example, a person studying the ontological roots of human languages ( etymology ) might ask whether there is kinship between
3870-445: A social relationship as created, constituted and maintained by a process of interaction, or doing (Schneider 1984, 165). Schneider used the example of the citamangen / fak relationship in Yap society, that his own early research had previously glossed over as a father / son relationship, to illustrate the problem; The crucial point is this: in the relationship between citamangen and fak
3999-457: A society who are not close genealogical relatives may nevertheless use what he called kinship terms (which he considered to be originally based on genealogical ties). This fact was already evident in his use of the term affinity within his concept of the system of kinship . The most lasting of Morgan's contributions was his discovery of the difference between descriptive and classificatory kinship terms, which situated broad kinship classes on
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4128-425: A species (e.g. as in kin selection theory). It may also be used in this specific sense when applied to human relationships, in which case its meaning is closer to consanguinity or genealogy . Family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage), or co-residence/shared consumption (see Nurture kinship ). In most societies, it is the principal institution for
4257-441: A state statute replaced or modified it. In the United States, especially in recent years, the general marriage age has been revised downward so that they are now between 18 and 21 years of age. There are three sets of marriage ages: 1) general marriage age, 2) the minimum marriage age set by statute and 3) minimum marriage age set by the common law . There are three sets of laws specifying minimum age requirements for marriage: 1)
4386-440: A systemic cultural model that can be elicited in fieldwork, but also when allowing considerable individual variability in details, such as when they are recorded through relative products. In trying to resolve the problems of dubious inferences about kinship "systems", George P. Murdock (1949, Social Structure) compiled kinship data to test a theory about universals in human kinship in the way that terminologies were influenced by
4515-456: A third pronoun (SIB) will be chosen distinct from the Masculine (MASC) and Feminine/Neuter (FEM). In many societies where kinship connections are important, there are rules, though they may be expressed or be taken for granted. There are four main headings that anthropologists use to categorize rules of descent. They are bilateral , unilineal , ambilineal and double descent. A descent group
4644-465: A wide array of lineage-based societies with a classificatory kinship system , potential spouses are sought from a specific class of relatives as determined by a prescriptive marriage rule. Insofar as regular marriages following prescriptive rules occur, lineages are linked together in fixed relationships; these ties between lineages may form political alliances in kinship dominated societies. French structural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss developed
4773-512: Is a social group whose members talk about common ancestry. A unilineal society is one in which the descent of an individual is reckoned either from the mother's or the father's line of descent. Matrilineal descent is based on relationship to females of the family line. A child would not be recognized with their father's family in these societies, but would be seen as a member of their mother's family's line. Simply put, individuals belong to their mother's descent group. Matrilineal descent includes
4902-600: Is a descent group composed of three or more clans each of whose apical ancestors are descended from a further common ancestor. If a society is divided into exactly two descent groups, each is called a moiety , after the French word for half . If the two halves are each obliged to marry out, and into the other, these are called matrimonial moieties . Houseman and White (1998b, bibliography) have discovered numerous societies where kinship network analysis shows that two halves marry one another, similar to matrimonial moieties, except that
5031-421: Is also known as a " Banns ", coming from Middle English meaning "Proclamation." This custom was in place as a mechanism to necessitate the consent of parents as well as the wider community. Some countries continuing this custom are Ireland (3 months) and India (30 days). While some countries, such as Australia , permit marriages to be held in private and at any location, others, including England , require that
5160-475: Is considered most significant differs from culture to culture. A clan is generally a descent group claiming common descent from an apical ancestor. Often, the details of parentage are not important elements of the clan tradition. Non-human apical ancestors are called totems . Examples of clans are found in Chechen , Chinese , Irish , Japanese , Polish , Scottish , Tlingit , and Somali societies. A phratry
5289-524: Is fronted, however, the term nakurrng now incorporates the male speaker as a propositus ( P i.e. point of reference for a kin-relation) and encapsulates the entire relationship as follows: Many Australian languages also have elaborate systems of referential terms for denoting groups of people based on their relationship to one another (not just their relationship to the speaker or an external propositus like 'grandparents'). For example, in Kuuk Thaayorre ,
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5418-619: Is in most cases determined by respective religious bodies coordinating the marriage as well as the parent's consent. In Sierra Leone , the president has banned marriages for children ages 18 and under and imposed steep fines on adult spouses. In the Philippines, the minimum legal age for marriage is 18, but individuals who are 16 or 17 can marry with parental consent. However, the country has specific provisions for Muslim marriages, which may differ from civil marriage regulations. Legal , social , and religious restrictions apply in all countries on
5547-404: Is necessary to be married by government authority separately from any religious ceremony, with the state ceremony being the legally binding one. In those cases, the marriage is usually legalized before the ceremony. Some jurisdictions allow civil marriages in circumstances which are notably not allowed by particular religions, such as same-sex marriages or civil unions . In a few jurisdictions,
5676-488: Is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor , marriage , and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household . Different societies classify kinship relations differently and therefore use different systems of kinship terminology – for example some languages distinguish between affinal and consanguine uncles, whereas others have only one word to refer to both
5805-520: Is not yet fully recognized with the same rights as opposite-sex marriages, and on June 28 2023, Supreme Court Justice Til Prasad Shrestha directed the government to establish a "separate register" for " sexual minorities and non-traditional couples" and to "temporarily register their marriages”). Marriage equality in Liechtenstein will come into effect on January 1 2025. The equal marriage bill in Thailand
5934-452: Is one criterion for membership of many social groups. But it may not be the only criterion; birth, or residence, or a parent's former residence, or utilization of garden land, or participation in exchange and feasting activities or in house-building or raiding, may be other relevant criteria for group membership."(Barnes 1962,6) Similarly, Langness' ethnography of the Bena Bena also emphasized
6063-520: Is permitted by the Quran (4:3), which states, in a verse setting rules for the adoption of orphans, "If you fear you might fail to give orphan women their ˹due˺ rights ˹if you were to marry them˺, then marry other women of your choice—two, three, or four. But if you are afraid you will fail to maintain justice (between your wives) then ˹content yourselves with˺ one or those ˹bondwomen˺(slaves) in your possession. This way you are less likely to commit injustice (to
6192-563: Is preferred, while at the other extreme, the medieval Catholic Church prohibited marriage even between distant cousins. In the United Kingdom , the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 removed the previous prohibition for a man to marry the sister of his deceased wife. In Australia, marriage with an ancestor or descendant is prohibited, as is a marriage between a brother and a sister, whether of whole blood or half-blood and even if
6321-491: Is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged. When defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal . A broad definition of marriage includes those that are monogamous , polygamous , same-sex and temporary. The act of marriage usually creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, and any offspring they may produce. Marriage may result, for example, in "a union between
6450-505: Is sometimes mistakenly claimed that before the Marriage Act 1753 cohabiting couples would enjoy the protection of a "common-law marriage". In fact, neither the name nor the concept of "common-law marriage" was known at this time. Far from being treated as if they were married, couples known to be cohabiting risked prosecution by the church courts for fornication . The Marriage Act 1753 also did not apply to Britain's overseas colonies of
6579-624: Is the case in many societies practicing totemic religion where society is divided into several exogamous totemic clans, such as most Aboriginal Australian societies. Marriages between parents and children, or between full siblings, with few exceptions, have been considered incest and forbidden. However, marriages between more distant relatives have been much more common, with one estimate being that 80% of all marriages in history have been between second cousins or closer. Systemic forms of preferential marriage may have wider social implications in terms of economic and political organization. In
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#17328555387806708-452: Is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that the study of kinship is the study of what humans do with these basic facts of life – mating , gestation , parenthood , socialization , siblingship etc. Human society
6837-577: Is two people that are related by blood or adoption, such as brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle etc. The U.S. is the only western country with cousin marriage restrictions, no European country prohibits marriage between first cousins. Societies have often placed restrictions on marriage to relatives, though the degree of prohibited relationship varies widely. In most societies, marriage between brothers and sisters has been forbidden, with ancient Egyptian, Hawaiian, and Inca royalty being prominent exceptions. In many societies, marriage between first cousins
6966-478: Is typically polygyny that is permitted. While accepted by some societies, it is far less common than monogamy . Polygamy is normally not permitted in most Western countries, although some recognize bona fide polygamous marriages that were performed in other countries. Polygamy is practiced illegally by some groups in the United States and Canada, primarily by certain Mormon fundamentalist sects that separated from
7095-406: Is unique, he argues, in that we are "working with the same raw material as exists in the animal world, but [we] can conceptualize and categorize it to serve social ends." These social ends include the socialization of children and the formation of basic economic, political and religious groups. Kinship can refer both to the patterns of social relationships themselves, or it can refer to the study of
7224-529: The Hague Convention on Marriages (1978). For this to apply, both the country of marriage and the country where recognition is sought need to be convention members. If the country of marriage is not a member of the Hague Convention on Marriages (1978), then the marriage documents will need to be certified following the Apostille convention . This certification is usually performed in the country of marriage by
7353-543: The Netherlands , Belgium , Spain , Canada , South Africa , Norway , Sweden , Portugal , Iceland , Argentina , Denmark , Brazil , France , Uruguay , New Zealand , Luxembourg , the United States , Ireland , Colombia , Finland , Malta , Germany , Australia , Austria , Taiwan , Ecuador , the United Kingdom , Costa Rica , Chile , Switzerland , Slovenia , Cuba , Mexico , Andorra , Estonia and Greece . As of August 2024, Thailand , Liechtenstein and Nepal have recognized same-sex marriage (In Nepal, it
7482-589: The Ottoman Empire and the British mandate , where civil marriage does not exist and authority for marriage is given by the state solely to the recognized religious denominations ( Orthodox Judaism , Islam , Druze , and ten Christian denominations (primarily Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism , but also including the Episcopal Church ). Israeli couples who wish to contract a marriage that are not allowed under
7611-556: The alliance theory to account for the "elementary" kinship structures created by the limited number of prescriptive marriage rules possible. Claude Lévi-Strauss argued in The Elementary Structures of Kinship (1949), that the incest taboo necessitated the exchange of women between kinship groups. Levi-Strauss thus shifted the emphasis from descent groups to the stable structures or relations between groups that preferential and prescriptive marriage rules created. One of
7740-451: The common law applies. The general marriage age (lacking authorization for an exception) is 18 years of age in all states except Nebraska , where the general marriage age is 19, and Mississippi , where the general marriage age is 21. The general marriage age is commonly the age of majority , though in Alabama the general marriage age is 18 while the age of majority is 19. In recent years,
7869-490: The shishyas (pupils) were advised against marrying any of guru 's children, as shishyas were also considered the guru's children and it would be considered marriage among siblings . However, there were exceptions, including Arjuna 's son Abhimanyu 's marriage to Uttara, the dance student of Arjuna in Mahabharata . The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 brought reforms in the area of same-gotra marriages, which were banned prior to
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#17328555387807998-468: The " House of Windsor ". The concept of a house society was originally proposed by Claude Lévi-Strauss who called them " sociétés à maison ". The concept has been applied to understand the organization of societies from Mesoamerica and the Moluccas to North Africa and medieval Europe. Lévi-Strauss introduced the concept as an alternative to 'corporate kinship group' among the cognatic kinship groups of
8127-502: The 1871 law, the penalty for sex with a girl below the age of consent was death. In 1880, 37 states set the age of consent at 10 years, 10 states set an age of consent at 12 years, and Delaware had an age of consent of 7 years. In California, early statutes forbade sexual intercourse with females under the age of 10, following the English statute of 1576. In 1889, the California statute
8256-506: The 1950s onwards, reports on kinship patterns in the New Guinea Highlands added some momentum to what had until then been only occasional fleeting suggestions that living together (co-residence) might underlie social bonding, and eventually contributed to the general shift away from a genealogical approach (see below section). For example, on the basis of his observations, Barnes suggested: [C]learly, genealogical connexion of some sort
8385-579: The 24-hour waiting period for military personnel. New Mexico is considering legislation to amend the minimum age for marriage and expand who can officiate weddings, while South Dakota raised the legal marriage age to 18 without exceptions. Additionally, Utah passed a law protecting interracial marriages explicitly. At present, South Africa is the only country to legally recognize both polygamy and same-sex marriage , though same-sex couples are excluded from entering into polygamous marriages. While it has been argued that "polygamy offers same-sex marriage advocates
8514-411: The 49th state in 1959, with the age of consent being 16 years. Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, with the age of consent being 14 years. Georgia raised its age of consent from 14 to 16 in 1995 as did Hawaii in 2001. Colorado lowered its age of consent to 15 in 1971, after it lowered the age of majority from 21 to 18 years. As of August 1, 2018, the age of consent in each state in the United States
8643-464: The Batek people of Malaysia recognize kinship ties through both parents' family lines, and kinship terms indicate that neither parent nor their families are of more or less importance than the other. Some societies reckon descent patrilineally for some purposes, and matrilineally for others. This arrangement is sometimes called double descent. For instance, certain property and titles may be inherited through
8772-455: The English word seven and the German word sieben . It can be used in a more diffuse sense as in, for example, the news headline " Madonna feels kinship with vilified Wallis Simpson ", to imply a felt similarity or empathy between two or more entities. In biology , "kinship" typically refers to the degree of genetic relatedness or the coefficient of relationship between individual members of
8901-459: The Human Family are: There is a seventh type of system only identified as distinct later: The six types (Crow, Eskimo, Hawaiian, Iroquois, Omaha, Sudanese) that are not fully classificatory (Dravidian, Australian) are those identified by Murdock (1949) prior to Lounsbury's (1964) rediscovery of the linguistic principles of classificatory kin terms. While normal kin-terms discussed above denote
9030-549: The Iroquois proper are specifically matrilineal. In a society which reckons descent bilaterally (bilineal), descent is reckoned through both father and mother, without unilineal descent groups. Societies with the Eskimo kinship system, like the Inuit , Yupik , and most Western societies, are typically bilateral. The egocentric kindred group is also typical of bilateral societies. Additionally,
9159-644: The Pacific region. The socially significant groupings within these societies have variable membership because kinship is reckoned bilaterally (through both father's and mother's kin) and comes together for only short periods. Property, genealogy and residence are not the basis for the group's existence. Marriage is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them, between them and their children, and between them and their in-laws. The definition of marriage varies according to different cultures, but it
9288-831: The Western Pacific) described patterns of events with concrete individuals as participants stressing the relative stability of institutions and communities, but without insisting on abstract systems or models of kinship. Gluckman (1955, The judicial process among the Barotse of Northern Rhodesia) balanced the emphasis on stability of institutions against processes of change and conflict, inferred through detailed analysis of instances of social interaction to infer rules and assumptions. John Barnes , Victor Turner , and others, affiliated with Gluckman's Manchester school of anthropology, described patterns of actual network relations in communities and fluid situations in urban or migratory context, as with
9417-533: The act's passage. Now the Indian constitution allows any consenting adult heterosexual couple (women 18 or older and men 21 or older) from any race, religion, caste, or creed to marry. Many societies have also adopted other restrictions on whom one can marry, such as prohibitions of marrying persons with the same surname, or persons with the same sacred animal. Anthropologists refer to these sorts of restrictions as exogamy . In South Korea , marriage between people having
9546-443: The actual bonds of blood relationship had a force and vitality of their own quite apart from any social overlay which they may also have acquired, and it is this biological relationship itself which accounts for what Radcliffe-Brown called "the source of social cohesion". (Schneider 1984, 49) Schneider himself emphasised a distinction between the notion of a social relationship as intrinsically given and inalienable ( from birth ), and
9675-408: The age of consent was set at 10 years. Jurist Sir Matthew Hale stated that both rape laws were valid at the same time. Under English common law the age of consent, as part of the law of rape, was 10 or 12 years and rape was defined as forceful sexual intercourse with a woman against her will. To convict a man of rape, both force and lack of consent had to be proven, except in the case of a girl who
9804-437: The attempts to break out of universalizing assumptions and theories about kinship, Radcliffe-Brown (1922, The Andaman Islands ; 1930, The social organization of Australian tribes) was the first to assert that kinship relations are best thought of as concrete networks of relationships among individuals. He then described these relationships, however, as typified by interlocking interpersonal roles. Malinowski (1922, Argonauts of
9933-552: The auspices of any of these religious denominations (including same-sex marriages, marriages involving Israelis of Jewish descent who are not recognized by the state as Jewish and marriages between non-Jewish Arab citizens of Israel and Israeli Jews) or simply wish to get legally married outside the auspices of one of these institutions cannot do so in Israel itself. However, Israel does recognize civil marriages between Israeli citizens that are contracted abroad, including same-sex marriage , so couples in these situations will often hold
10062-460: The basis of imputing abstract social patterns of relationships having little or no overall relation to genetic closeness but instead cognition about kinship, social distinctions as they affect linguistic usages in kinship terminology , and strongly relate, if only by approximation, to patterns of marriage. Source: A more flexible view of kinship was formulated in British social anthropology . Among
10191-405: The behavioral similarities or social differences among pairs of kin, proceeding on the view that the psychological ordering of kinship systems radiates out from ego and the nuclear family to different forms of extended family . Lévi-Strauss (1949, Les Structures Elementaires), on the other hand, also looked for global patterns to kinship, but viewed the "elementary" forms of kinship as lying in
10320-667: The border to thwart the ban. On the European continent, common-law marriages were frequent in the Middle Ages, but their legality was abolished in the Roman Catholic countries by the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which required that marriages be celebrated in the presence of a priest and two witnesses. The Catholic Church forbade clandestine marriage at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), which required all marriages to be announced in
10449-476: The boundaries of incest . A great deal of inference was necessarily involved in such constructions as to "systems" of kinship, and attempts to construct systemic patterns and reconstruct kinship evolutionary histories on these bases were largely invalidated in later work. However, anthropologist Dwight Read later argued that the way in which kinship categories are defined by individual researchers are substantially inconsistent. This not only occurs when working within
10578-612: The brother or sister has been adopted. All mainstream religions prohibit some marriages on the basis of the consanguinity (lineal descent) and affinity (kinship by marriage) of the prospective marriage partners, though the standards vary. In the Indian Hindu community, especially in the Brahmin caste, marrying a person of the same gotra was prohibited, since persons belonging to the same gotra are said to have identical patrilineal descent. In ancient India , when gurukuls existed,
10707-418: The civil ceremony be conducted in a place specially sanctioned by law (e.g. a church or register office ), and be open to the public. An exception can be made in the case of marriage by special emergency license, which is normally granted only when one of the parties is terminally ill. Rules about where and when persons can marry vary from place to place. Some regulations require that one of the parties reside in
10836-452: The context of Australian Aboriginal kinship . In Bininj Kunwok , for example, the bi-relational kin-term nakurrng is differentiated from its tri-relational counterpart by the position of the possessive pronoun ke . When nakurrng is anchored to the addressee with ke in the second position, it simply means 'brother' (which includes a broader set of relations than in English). When the ke
10965-508: The early 20th century. Kinship systems as defined in anthropological texts and ethnographies were seen as constituted by patterns of behavior and attitudes in relation to the differences in terminology, listed above, for referring to relationships as well as for addressing others. Many anthropologists went so far as to see, in these patterns of kinship, strong relations between kinship categories and patterns of marriage, including forms of marriage, restrictions on marriage, and cultural concepts of
11094-434: The embassy of the country whose recognition is sought. A marriage license is a document issued, either by a church or state authority , authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a license varies between jurisdictions and has changed over time. In many countries there is a requirement to give notice of an impending marriage to the community so that objections to the marriage can be raised. This practice
11223-666: The eyes of one authority may not be the same as for another. For example, a marriage may be recognized civilly, but not by a church, and vice versa. Normally a marriage entered into in one country will be recognized in other countries. Sometimes, however, a religious ceremony or a marriage entered into in one country is not recognized by another, such as a same-sex marriage . In the United States, various states have proposed and enacted changes to their marriage laws. New Jersey introduced bills allowing remote application for marriage licenses and virtual ceremonies using video-conferencing technology. New York has similar proposals, including waiving
11352-518: The fact of life in social groups ( which appeared to be unique to humans ) as being largely a result of human ideas and values. Morgan's explanation for why humans live in groups was largely based on the notion that all humans have an inherent natural valuation of genealogical ties (an unexamined assumption that would remain at the heart of kinship studies for another century, see below), and therefore also an inherent desire to construct social groups around these ties. Even so, Morgan found that members of
11481-445: The following circumstances: If one or more of the following apply: Or in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following circumstances apply: In 6 states, a person who is 21 years old cannot marry a person under 18 years old: Missouri , Arizona , Colorado , Idaho , Louisiana , Nevada . In one state, Florida , a person who is 20 cannot marry a person under 18 years old. In 3 states – Georgia , Tennessee and Ohio –
11610-457: The foundational works in the anthropological study of kinship was Morgan's Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family (1871). As is the case with other social sciences, Anthropology and kinship studies emerged at a time when the understanding of the Human species' comparative place in the world was somewhat different from today's. Evidence that life in stable social groups is not just
11739-401: The genders of the couple. In response to changing social and political attitudes, some jurisdictions and religious denomination now recognize marriages between people of the same sex. Other jurisdictions have instead " civil unions " or " domestic partnerships ", while additional others explicitly prohibit same-sex marriages . In 1989, Denmark became the first country to legally recognize
11868-476: The general age at which a person may marry is 18, but 16- or 17-year-olds may get married with their parents' or guardians' consent. If they are unable to obtain this, they can gain consent from the courts, which may be granted by the Magistrates' Courts, or the county or High Court family divisions. In Nigeria , because most marriages are religious ones, there is no strict minimum age for marriage. The issues of age
11997-508: The general marriage age is 21 as that is the age of majority . The general marriage age in Puerto Rico is 21 or 18 with parental consent. In Guam , the general age is 18, but 16-year-olds can get married with the consent of at least one parent or guardian. In American Samoa , since September 2018, the marriage age has been 18 for both sexes. Previously, the marriage age for females was 14. American Samoa does not allow underage marriages. In
12126-494: The highest prevalence is in Afghanistan , Yemen and Iraq . Beginning in the early 20th century, a number of jurisdictions have mandated premarital medical testing or examinations for one or both parties. One of the most commonly mandated was a blood test for syphilis . Between the 1930s and 1950s, most US states passed laws requiring both parties to a marriage to undergo a Wassermann test (or equivalent) for syphilis. If one of
12255-642: The last to do so in 2006. Australia has recognized de facto relationships since the Family Law Act of 2009 . In the United States by the second half of the 20th century, common-law marriages were valid in about one-third of the states, absolutely or conditionally (if entered into before a certain statute-defined date). Marriage is an institution that is historically filled with restrictions. From age to gender, to social status, various restrictions are placed on marriage by communities, religious institutions, legal traditions, and states. The minimum age at which
12384-779: The locality of the registry office. A marriage can end when one partner dies, by divorce , or by annulment . Divorce laws vary significantly by country. The only countries that do not allow divorce are the Philippines and the Vatican City , an ecclesiastical state, which has no procedure for divorce, although the Philippines is considering making divorce legal as of 2024. Countries that have relatively recently legalized divorce are Italy (1970), Portugal (1975), Brazil (1977), Spain (1981), Argentina (1987), Paraguay (1991), Colombia (1991) Ireland (1996), Chile (2004) and Malta (2011). Kinship In anthropology , kinship
12513-521: The mainstream Latter Day Saints movement after the practice was renounced in 1890. Many societies, even some with a cultural tradition of polygamy, recognize monogamy as the only valid form of marriage. For example, People's Republic of China shifted from allowing polygamy to supporting only monogamy in the New Marriage Law of 1950 after the Communist Revolution . In Islam, polygamy
12642-527: The male line, and others through the female line. Societies can also consider descent to be ambilineal (such as Hawaiian kinship ) where offspring determine their lineage through the matrilineal line or the patrilineal line . A lineage is a unilineal descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from a known apical ancestor . Unilineal lineages can be matrilineal or patrilineal, depending on whether they are traced through mothers or fathers, respectively. Whether matrilineal or patrilineal descent
12771-437: The minimum age with parental and judicial or court consent, 2) the minimum age with parental consent, and 3) the minimum age without parental consent. There is little variation over time or across states in the laws without parental consent. Prior to 1971, approximately 80% of states specified an age of 18 for marriage without parental consent for women, and approximately 85% specified an age of 21 for men. In states without
12900-494: The minimum marriage age is 18, but prior to July 29, 2022 adolescents could be married with judicial consent. Unlike many other states, in Massachusetts an adolescent's marriage did not automatically emancipate the minor, or increase his or her legal rights beyond allowing the minor to consent to certain medical treatments. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, and its people are American citizens . In Puerto Rico,
13029-483: The mistake of assuming these particular cultural values of 'blood is thicker than water', common in their own societies, were 'natural' and universal for all human cultures (i.e. a form of ethnocentrism). He concluded that, due to these unexamined assumptions, the whole enterprise of 'kinship' in anthropology may have been built on faulty foundations. His 1984 book A Critique of The Study of Kinship gave his fullest account of this critique. Certainly for Morgan (1870:10)
13158-475: The mother's brother, who in some societies may pass along inheritance to the sister's children or succession to a sister's son. Conversely, with patrilineal descent , individuals belong to their father's descent group. Children are recognized as members of their father's family, and descent is based on relationship to males of the family line. Societies with the Iroquois kinship system, are typically unilineal, while
13287-584: The need expanded as the settlers moved into the sparsely populated regions of the West. In the United States, common-law marriages are still recognized in Alabama , Colorado , Iowa , Kansas , Montana , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Texas , Utah , and the District of Columbia (see Common-law marriage in the United States ). All countries in Europe have now abolished "marriage by habit and repute", with Scotland being
13416-489: The orphan girls in your care ) " . Africa has the highest rate of polygamy in the world. In India, only Muslims are allowed to practice polygamy. Polygamy, taking the form of polygyny, is most common in a region known as the "polygamy belt" in West Africa and Central Africa , with the countries estimated to have the highest polygamy prevalence in the world being Burkina Faso , Mali , Gambia , Niger and Nigeria . In
13545-424: The parties was found to have communicable syphilis, they would generally be prevented from marrying until they underwent treatment to resolve the infection. Before the availability of penicillin after World War II, the treatment of syphilis entailed a course of arsenic-based drugs for up to a year or more. These statutes were eventually repealed between the 1970s and 2000s, because they were considered to no longer be
13674-666: The patterns of social relationships in one or more human cultures (i.e. kinship studies). Over its history, anthropology has developed a number of related concepts and terms in the study of kinship, such as descent , descent group, lineage , affinity/affine , consanguinity/cognate and fictive kinship . Further, even within these two broad usages of the term, there are different theoretical approaches. Broadly, kinship patterns may be considered to include people related by both descent – i.e. social relations during development – and by marriage . Human kinship relations through marriage are commonly called "affinity" in contrast to
13803-425: The primacy of residence patterns in 'creating' kinship ties: The sheer fact of residence in a Bena Bena group can and does determine kinship. People do not necessarily reside where they do because they are kinsmen: rather they become kinsmen because they reside there." (Langness 1964, 172 emphasis in original) In 1972 David M. Schneider raised deep problems with the notion that human social bonds and 'kinship'
13932-614: The region of sub-Saharan Africa , polygyny is common and deeply rooted in the culture, with 11% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa living in such marriages (25% of the Muslim population and 3% of the Christian population, as of 2019). Polygyny is especially widespread in West Africa, with the countries estimated to have the highest polygyny prevalence in the world as of 2019 being Burkina Faso (36%), Mali (34%) and Gambia (30%). Outside of Africa,
14061-415: The relationships that arise in one's group of origin, which may be called one's descent group. In some cultures, kinship relationships may be considered to extend out to people an individual has economic or political relationships with, or other forms of social connections. Within a culture, some descent groups may be considered to lead back to gods or animal ancestors ( totems ). This may be conceived of on
14190-493: The reversal of terms so that the old, dependent man becomes fak , to the young man, tam . The European and the anthropological notion of consanguinity, of blood relationship and descent, rest on precisely the opposite kind of value. It rests more on the state of being... on the biogenetic relationship which is represented by one or another variant of the symbol of 'blood' (consanguinity), or on 'birth', on qualities rather than on performance. We have tried to impose this definition of
14319-436: The right to dictate the activities of children of the marriage have typically been given to male marital partners (for more details see coverture and marital power ). However, these practices were curtailed to a great deal in many countries, especially Western countries, in the twentieth century, and more modern statutes tend to define the rights and duties of a spouse without reference to gender. In various marriage laws around
14448-564: The same surname and belonging to the same clan was prohibited by the Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code , until the act was determined "non-conforming to the Constitution" in 1997. Societies have also at times required marriage from within a certain group. Anthropologists refer to these restrictions as endogamy . An example of such restrictions would be a requirement to marry someone from
14577-416: The same tribe. Racist laws adopted by some societies in the past—such as Nazi-era Germany , apartheid-era South Africa , and most of the United States in the nineteenth and the first half of the 20th century—and which prohibited marriage between persons of different races could also be considered examples of endogamy . In modern Israel, the status of marriage is the same as it was historically under
14706-439: The social rules governing the selection of a partner for marriage. In many societies, the choice of partner is limited to suitable persons from specific social groups. In some societies the rule is that a partner is selected from an individual's own social group – endogamy , this is the case in many class and caste based societies. But in other societies a partner must be chosen from a different group than one's own – exogamy , this
14835-440: The socialization of children. As the basic unit for raising children, Anthropologists most generally classify family organization as matrifocal (a mother and her children); conjugal (a husband, his wife, and children; also called nuclear family ); avuncular (a brother, his sister, and her children); or extended family in which parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent's family. However, producing children
14964-411: The stress in the definition of the relationship is more on doing than on being. That is, it is more what the citamangen does for fak and what fak does for citamangen that makes or constitutes the relationship. This is demonstrated, first, in the ability to terminate absolutely the relationship where there is a failure in the doing, when the fak fails to do what he is supposed to do; and second, in
15093-537: The symbolic meanings surrounding ideas of kinship in American Culture found that Americans ascribe a special significance to 'blood ties' as well as related symbols like the naturalness of marriage and raising children within this culture. In later work (1972 and 1984) Schneider argued that unexamined genealogical notions of kinship had been embedded in anthropology since Morgan's early work because American anthropologists (and anthropologists in western Europe) had made
15222-474: The time, so common-law marriages continued to be recognized in what became the United States and Canada. Although it is claimed that common-law marriage in the US originated in English common-law, this institution in the United States appears to have originated in the primitive conditions of colonial America where the presence of relatively few clerics or civil officials necessitated a substitute for ceremonial marriage, and
15351-657: The trend has been to adjust the general marriage age downward and to raise the age for women to that of men. Until 1971, approximately 80% of states had a general marriage age of 18 for women, while for men the general marriage age was 21 in approximately 85% of states. When at least one of the marriage partners is under the general marriage age, the marriage is considered underage. Thirteen states completely ban underage marriage: Connecticut , Delaware , Massachusetts , Minnesota , New Jersey , New York , Pennsylvania , Vermont , Michigan , Rhode Island , Washington , Virginia , and New Hampshire . The other states may require
15480-597: The two halves—which they call matrimonial sides —are neither named nor descent groups, although the egocentric kinship terms may be consistent with the pattern of sidedness, whereas the sidedness is culturally evident but imperfect. The word deme refers to an endogamous local population that does not have unilineal descent. Thus, a deme is a local endogamous community without internal segmentation into clans. In some societies kinship and political relations are organized around membership in corporately organized dwellings rather than around descent groups or lineages , as in
15609-415: The underage partner to obtain either parental consent, judicial authorization, or both, or rely on "exceptional circumstances". The minimum underage marriage age, when all mitigating circumstances are taken into account, commonly ranges from 15 to 17. Six states do not allow a person over 21 to marry an underage person. As of April 2024, four US states do not set any minimum age for marriage. In many states,
15738-406: The ways that families were connected by marriage in different fundamental forms resembling those of modes of exchange : symmetric and direct, reciprocal delay, or generalized exchange . Building on Lévi-Strauss's (1949) notions of kinship as caught up with the fluid languages of exchange, Edmund Leach (1961, Pul Eliya) argued that kinship was a flexible idiom that had something of the grammar of
15867-634: The work of J. Clyde Mitchell (1965, Social Networks in Urban Situations). Yet, all these approaches clung to a view of stable functionalism , with kinship as one of the central stable institutions. More recently, under the influence of "new kinship studies", there has been a shift of emphasis from the being to the doing of kinship. A new generation of anthropologist study the processes of doing kinship in new contexts such as in migrant communities and in queer families. The concept of "system of kinship" tended to dominate anthropological studies of kinship in
15996-607: The world, however, the husband continues to have authority; for instance, the Civil Code of Iran states at Article 1105: "In relations between husband and wife; the position of the head of the family is the exclusive right of the husband". These rights and obligations vary considerably among legal systems, societies, and groups within a society, and may include: Common-law marriages were valid in England until Lord Hardwicke's Act of 1753 . The act did not apply to Scotland, however, and for many years thereafter couples went north across
16125-614: Was a natural category built upon genealogical ties and made a fuller argument in his 1984 book A Critique of the Study of Kinship which had a major influence on the subsequent study of kinship. Before the questions raised within anthropology about the study of 'kinship' by David M. Schneider and others from the 1960s onwards, anthropology itself had paid very little attention to the notion that kinship bonds were anything other than connected to consanguineal (or genealogical) relatedness (or its local cultural conceptions). Schneider's 1968 study of
16254-442: Was amended to raise the age to 14 years and the age was raised to 16 in 1897. In the late-19th century, a " social purity movement " composed of Christian feminist reform groups began advocating a raise in the age of consent to 16, with the goal of raising it ultimately to 18. By 1920, 26 states had an age of consent of 16, 21 states had an age of consent of 18, and one state (Georgia) had an age of consent of 14. Alaska became
16383-557: Was either 16 years, 17 years, or 18 years. When at least one of the marriage partners is under the general marriage age, the marriage is considered underage and may require parental consent and/or judicial authorization. Also, adolescents can marry in "exceptional circumstances". Connecticut , Delaware , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Vermont , Virginia and Washington do not allow underage marriage. The other states allow an underage person to marry in
16512-791: Was passed with an overwhelming majority (130-4) on March 27 2024. In 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Thailand is expected to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriage after a marriage equality bill passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate . Civil union , civil partnership , domestic partnership , and registered partnership statuses offer varying legal benefits of marriage. As of 26 November 2024, countries that have an alternative form of legal recognition other than marriage on
16641-402: Was under the age of consent. Since the age of consent applied in all circumstances, not just in physical assaults, the law also made it impossible for a girl under 12 years to consent to sexual activity. There was one exception: a man's acts with his wife (females over 12 years), to which rape law did not apply. English common law applied in each the United States jurisdiction unless and until
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