Marriage Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Types== {{Main|Types of marriages}} ===Monogamy=== [[File:Marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi.png|thumb|right|alt=The marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid|Ancient [[Sumer]]ian depiction of the marriage of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Lung|first=Tang|title=Marriage of Inanna and Dumuzi|url=http://www.worldhistory.org/image/2636/|website=World History Encyclopedia|date=2014}}</ref>]] {{Main|Monogamy}} Monogamy is a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse during their lifetime or at any one time (serial monogamy). Anthropologist [[Jack Goody]]'s comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]] found a strong correlation between intensive plough agriculture, dowry and monogamy. This pattern was found in a broad swath of Eurasian societies from Japan to Ireland. The majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice extensive hoe agriculture, in contrast, show a correlation between "[[bride price]]" and polygamy.<ref name="Goody 1976 7">{{cite book|last=Goody|first=Jack|title=Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain|year=1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=7}}</ref> A further study drawing on the Ethnographic Atlas showed a statistical correlation between increasing size of the society, the belief in "high gods" to support human morality, and monogamy.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Roes|first=Frans L.|title=The Size of Societies, Monogamy, and Belief in High Gods Supporting Human Morality|journal=Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen|year=1992|volume=37|issue=1|pages=53–58}}</ref> In the countries which do not permit polygamy, a person who marries in one of those countries a person while still being lawfully married to another commits the crime of [[bigamy]]. In all cases, the second marriage is considered legally null and void. Besides the second and subsequent marriages being void, the bigamist is also liable to other penalties, which also vary between jurisdictions. ====Serial monogamy==== Governments that support monogamy may allow easy divorce. In a number of Western countries, divorce rates approach 50%. Those who remarry do so usually no more than three times.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-11-14|title=The Demographics of Remarriage|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/11/14/chapter-2-the-demographics-of-remarriage/|access-date=2021-06-28|website=Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project|language=en-US}}</ref> Divorce and remarriage can thus result in "serial monogamy", i.e. having multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time. This can be interpreted as a form of plural mating, as are those societies dominated by female-headed families in the [[Caribbean]], [[Mauritius]] and [[Brazil]] where there is frequent rotation of unmarried partners. In all, these account for 16 to 24% of the "monogamous" category.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=34}}</ref> [[File:Hindu wedding couple.jpg|thumb|[[Hindu wedding|Indian Hindu wedding]] with the bride and groom in traditional dress.]] Serial monogamy creates a new kind of relative, the "ex-". The "ex-wife", for example, may remain an active part of her "ex-husband's" or "ex-wife's" life, as they may be tied together by transfers of resources (alimony, child support), or shared child custody. Bob Simpson notes that in the British case, serial monogamy creates an "extended family" – a number of households tied together in this way, including mobile children (possible exes may include an ex-wife, an ex-brother-in-law, etc., but not an "ex-child"). These "unclear families" do not fit the mould of the monogamous [[nuclear family]]. As a series of connected households, they come to resemble the polygynous model of separate households maintained by mothers with children, tied by a male to whom they are married or divorced.<ref>{{cite book|last=Simpson|first=Bob|title=Changing Families: An Ethnographic Approach to Divorce and Separation|year=1998|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford}}</ref> ===Polygamy=== {{Main|Polygamy}} [[File:Kwong Sue Duk with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904 (9623512597).jpg|thumb|Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, [[Cairns]], 1904]] Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two spouses.<ref name="Zeitzen">{{cite book |last=Zeitzen |first=Miriam Koktvedgaard |title=Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WIzHjpTJgdQC&pg=PA3 |publisher=Berg |page=3 |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84520-220-0}}</ref> When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, the relationship is called [[polygyny]], and there is no marriage bond between the wives; and when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called [[polyandry]], and there is no marriage bond between the husbands. If a marriage includes multiple husbands or wives, it can be called [[group marriage]].<ref name=Zeitzen/> A molecular genetic study of global human genetic diversity argued that sexual polygyny was typical of human reproductive patterns until the shift to sedentary farming communities approximately 10,000 to 5,000 years ago in Europe and Asia, and more recently in Africa and the Americas.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Dupanloup I, Pereira L, Bertorelle G, Calafell F, Prata MJ, Amorim A, Barbujani G | year = 2003 | title = A recent shift from polygyny to monogamy in humans is suggested by the analysis of worldwide Y-chromosome diversity | journal = J Mol Evol | volume = 57 | issue = 1| pages = 85–97 | doi = 10.1007/s00239-003-2458-x | pmid = 12962309 | bibcode = 2003JMolE..57...85D | citeseerx = 10.1.1.454.1662 | s2cid = 2673314 }}</ref> As noted above, Anthropologist [[Jack Goody]]'s comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]] found that the majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice extensive hoe agriculture show a correlation between "[[Bride price]]" and polygamy.<ref name="Goody 1976 7"/> A survey of other cross-cultural samples has confirmed that the absence of the plough was the only predictor of polygamy, although other factors such as high male mortality in warfare (in non-state societies) and pathogen stress (in state societies) had some impact.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ember|first=Carol R.|title=What we know and what we don't know about variation in social organization: Melvin Ember's approach to the study of kinship|journal=Cross-Cultural Research|year=2011|volume=45|issue=1|pages=27–30|doi=10.1177/1069397110383947|s2cid=143952998}}</ref> Marriages are classified according to the number of legal spouses an individual has. The suffix "-gamy" refers specifically to the number of spouses, as in [[Bigamy|bi-gamy]] (two spouses, generally illegal in most nations), and poly-gamy (more than one spouse). Societies show variable acceptance of polygamy as a cultural ideal and practice. According to the [[Human Relations Area Files|Ethnographic Atlas]], of 1,231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry.<ref name="Atlas">[http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf ''Ethnographic Atlas Codebook''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118232413/http://eclectic.ss.uci.edu/~drwhite/worldcul/Codebook4EthnoAtlas.pdf |date=18 November 2012 }} derived from George P. Murdock's ''Ethnographic Atlas'' recording the marital composition of 1231 societies from 1960 to 1980</ref> However, as Miriam Zeitzen writes, social tolerance for polygamy is different from the practice of polygamy, since it requires wealth to establish multiple households for multiple wives. The actual practice of polygamy in a tolerant society may actually be low, with the majority of aspirant polygamists practicing monogamous marriage. Tracking the occurrence of polygamy is further complicated in jurisdictions where it has been banned, but continues to be practiced (''de facto polygamy'').<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 5">{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n11 5]|isbn=978-1-84788-617-0}}</ref> Zeitzen also notes that Western perceptions of African society and marriage patterns are biased by "contradictory concerns of nostalgia for traditional African culture versus critique of polygamy as oppressive to women or detrimental to development."<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 5"/> Polygamy has been condemned as being a form of human rights abuse, with concerns arising over domestic abuse, forced marriage, and neglect. The vast majority of the world's countries, including virtually all of the world's developed nations, do not permit polygamy. There have been calls{{by whom|date=August 2022}} for the abolition of polygamy in developing countries.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} ====Polygyny==== {{Main|Polygyny}} {{See also|Concubinage}} Polygyny usually grants wives equal status, although the husband may have personal preferences. One type of de facto polygyny is [[concubinage]], where only one woman gets a wife's rights and status, while other women remain legal house mistresses. Although a society may be classified as polygynous, not all marriages in it necessarily are; monogamous marriages may in fact predominate. It is to this flexibility that Anthropologist [[Robin Fox]] attributes its success as a social support system: "This has often meant – given the imbalance in the sex ratios, the higher male infant mortality, the shorter life span of males, the loss of males in wartime, etc. – that often women were left without financial support from husbands. To correct this condition, females had to be killed at birth, remain single, become prostitutes, or be siphoned off into celibate religious orders. Polygynous systems have the advantage that they can promise, as did the Mormons, a home and family for every woman."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law, and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=48}}</ref> Nonetheless, polygyny is a gender issue which offers men asymmetrical benefits. In some cases, there is a large age discrepancy (as much as a generation) between a man and his youngest wife, compounding the power differential between the two. Tensions not only exist ''between'' genders, but also ''within'' genders; senior and junior men compete for wives, and senior and junior wives in the same household may experience radically different life conditions, and internal hierarchy. Several studies have suggested that the wive's relationship with other women, including co-wives and husband's female kin, are more critical relationships than that with her husband for her productive, reproductive and personal achievement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n131 125]–27}}</ref> In some societies, the co-wives are relatives, usually sisters, a practice called ''sororal polygyny''; the pre-existing relationship between the co-wives is thought to decrease potential tensions within the marriage.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9">{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n15 9]}}</ref> Fox argues that "the major difference between polygyny and monogamy could be stated thus: while plural mating occurs in both systems, under polygyny several unions may be recognized as being legal marriages while under monogamy only one of the unions is so recognized. Often, however, it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the two."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fox|first=Robin|title=Reproduction & Succession: Studies in Anthropology, Law and Society|year=1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, NJ|page=21}}</ref> As polygamy in Africa is increasingly subject to legal limitations, a variant form of ''de facto'' (as opposed to legal or ''de jure'') polygyny is being practiced in urban centers. Although it does not involve multiple (now illegal) formal marriages, the domestic and personal arrangements follow old polygynous patterns. The de facto form of polygyny is found in other parts of the world as well (including some Mormon sects and Muslim families in the United States).<ref>{{cite book|last=Zeitzen|first=Miriam Koktvedgaard|title=Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis|url=https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit|url-access=limited|year=2008|publisher=Berg|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/polygamycrosscul00zeit/page/n23 17], 89–107}}</ref> In some societies such as the [[Lobedu people|Lovedu]] of South Africa, or the [[Nuer people|Nuer]] of the Sudan, aristocratic women may become female 'husbands.' In the Lovedu case, this female husband may take a number of polygamous wives. This is not a lesbian relationship, but a means of legitimately expanding a royal lineage by attaching these wives' children to it. The relationships are considered polygynous, not polyandrous, because the female husband is in fact assuming masculine gendered political roles.<ref name="Zeitzen 2008 9"/> Religious groups have differing views on the legitimacy of [[polygyny]]. It is allowed in [[Islam]] and [[Confucianism]]. [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]] have mentioned practices involving polygyny in the past, however, outright religious acceptance of such practices was not addressed until its rejection in later passages. They do explicitly prohibit polygyny today. ====Polyandry==== {{Main|Polyandry|Polyandry in Tibet|Polyandry in India}} [[Polyandry]] is notably more rare than polygyny, though less rare than the figure commonly cited in the ''Ethnographic Atlas'' (1980) which listed only those polyandrous societies found in the Himalayan Mountains. More recent studies have found 53 societies outside the 28 found in the Himalayans which practice polyandry.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Starkweather|first1=Katherine|last2=Hames|first2=Raymond|title=A survey of non-classical polyandry|journal=Human Nature|date=June 2012|volume=23|issue=2|pages=149–72|doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x|pmid=22688804|s2cid=2008559|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article%3D1049%26context%3Danthropologyfacpub|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923033542/http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub|archive-date=23 September 2017}}</ref> It is most common in egalitarian societies marked by high male mortality or male absenteeism. It is associated with ''partible paternity'', the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Starkweather|first1=Katherine|last2=Hames|first2=Raymond|title=A survey of non-classical polyandry|journal=Human Nature|date=June 2012|volume=23|issue=2|pages=149–72|doi=10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x|pmid=22688804|s2cid=2008559|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=anthropologyfacpub}}</ref> The explanation for polyandry in the Himalayan Mountains is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife (''fraternal polyandry'') allows family land to remain intact and undivided. If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this was prevented through the social practice of impartible inheritance (the dis-inheriting of most siblings, some of whom went on to become celibate monks and priests).<ref>{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Nancy|title=The Dynamics of polyandry: kinship, domesticity, and population on the Tibetan border|year=1998|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago}}</ref> ====Plural marriage==== [[Group marriage]] (also known as ''multi-lateral marriage'') is a form of [[polyamory]] in which more than two persons form a [[family]] unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group marriage, and all members of the marriage share [[parent]]al responsibility for any children arising from the marriage.<ref name="murdock-1949-definition">Murdock, 1949, p. 24. "''group marriage'' or a marital union embracing at once several men and several women."</ref> No country legally condones group marriages, neither under the law nor as a common law marriage, but historically it has been practiced by some cultures of Polynesia, Asia, Papua New Guinea and the Americas – as well as in some [[Intentional community|intentional communities]] and alternative subcultures such as the [[Oneida Community|Oneida Perfectionists]] in up-state New York. Of the 250 societies reported by the American anthropologist [[George Murdock]] in 1949, only the [[Kaingang]] of Brazil had any group marriages at all.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247131/group-marriage|title=Group Marriage|journal=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=9 October 2023 }}</ref> ===Child marriage=== {{Main|Child marriage}} A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses are under the age of 18.<ref name="Child Marriage">[http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html Child Marriage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907061839/https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html |date=7 September 2018 }} UNICEF (2011)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/14/q-child-marriage-and-violations-girls-rights|title=Q & A: Child Marriage and Violations of Girls' Rights – Human Rights Watch|date=14 June 2013|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> It is related to child [[Engagement#Betrothal|betrothal]] and [[teenage pregnancy]]. Child marriage was common throughout history, even up until the 1900s in the United States, where in 1880 CE, in the state of [[Delaware]], the age of consent for marriage was 7 years old.<ref name="gmu-aoc">{{cite web |url=https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/24.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607132514/https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/230?section=primarysources&source=24 |archive-date=2010-06-07 |url-status=live |title=Age of Consent Laws (Table) |last=Robertson |first=Stephen |website=Children & Youth in History |access-date=February 3, 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Still, in 2017, over half of the 50 United States have no explicit minimum age to marry and several states set the age as low as 14.<ref name="tahirih">{{cite web |title=Understanding State Statutes on Minimum Marriage Age and Exceptions Laws |url=http://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-State-Marriage-Age-Requirements-Statutory-Compilation-PDF.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215001447/http://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/FINAL-State-Marriage-Age-Requirements-Statutory-Compilation-PDF.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2016 |website=Tahirih Justice Center |access-date=27 May 2017}}</ref> Today it is condemned by international human rights organizations.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art16.shtml |title=I have a right to |publisher= BBC World Service |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="who.int">{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314073138/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/child_marriage_20130307/en/ |archive-date=14 March 2013 |title= Child marriages: 39,000 every day |publisher=WHO |access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> Child marriages are often arranged between the families of the future bride and groom, sometimes as soon as the girl is born.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> However, in the late 1800s in England and the United States, [[Feminism|feminist]] activists began calling for raised age of consent laws, which was eventually handled in the 1920s, having been raised to 16–18.<ref name="encyclopedia-aoc">{{cite web |last1=Bullough |first1=Vern L. |title=Age of Consent |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/age_of_consent.aspx |website=Encyclopedia |publisher=Gale Group |access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> Child marriages can also occur in the context of [[bride kidnapping]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> In the year 1552 CE, John Somerford and Jane Somerford Brereton were both married at the ages of 3 and 2, respectively. Twelve years later, in 1564, John filed for divorce.<ref name="woman-compendium">{{cite book |author=Hermann Heinrich Ploss |author2=Max Bartels |author3=Paul Bartels |title=Woman: An Historical Gynæcological and Anthropological Compendium |date=1935 |publisher=William Heinemann (Medical Books) Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-1-4831-9419-6 |page=129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yW0BQAAQBAJ&q=129&pg=PA129}}</ref> While child marriage is observed for both boys and girls, the overwhelming majority of child spouses are girls.<ref>[http://www.unicef.org/policyanalysis/files/Note_on_Child_Marriage.pdf A Note on Child Marriage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819082235/https://www.unicef.org/policyanalysis/files/Note_on_Child_Marriage.pdf |date=19 August 2018 }} UNICEF (July 2012), p. 3</ref> In many cases, only one marriage-partner is a child, usually the female, due to the importance placed upon female [[virginity]].<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> Causes of child marriage include [[poverty]], [[bride price]], [[dowry]], laws that allow child marriages, [[Religion|religious]] and [[Peer pressure|social pressures]], regional customs, fear of remaining unmarried, and perceived inability of women to work for money. Today, child marriages are widespread in parts of the world; being most common in [[South Asia]] and [[sub-Saharan Africa]], with more than half of the girls in some countries in those regions being married before 18.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> The incidence of child marriage has been falling in most parts of the world. In developed countries, child marriage is outlawed or restricted. Girls who marry before 18 are at greater risk of becoming victims of [[domestic violence]], than those who marry later, especially when they are married to a much older man.<ref name="who.int"/> ===Same-sex and third-gender marriages=== {{Main|Same-sex marriage|History of same-sex unions}} [[File:Terryandmarkwedding.jpg|thumb|A same-sex couple exchanging wedding vows in a [[Unitarian Universalism|Unitarian Universalist]] Fellowship]] Several kinds of same-sex marriages have been documented in Indigenous and lineage-based cultures. In the Americas, [[We'wha]] ([[Zuni people|Zuni]]), was a ''[[lhamana]]'' (male individuals who, at least some of the time, dress and live in the roles usually filled by women in that culture); a respected artist, We'wha served as an emissary of the Zuni to Washington, where he met President [[Grover Cleveland]].<ref name="Stevenson37">Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies, (BiblioBazaar, 2010) p. 37 Quote: "the most intelligent person in the pueblo. Strong character made his word law among both men and women with whom he associated. Though his wrath was dreaded by men as well as women, he was loved by all children, to whom he was ever kind."</ref> We'wha had at least one husband who was generally recognized as such.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Eskridge|first=William N.|title=A History of Same-Sex Marriage|journal=Virginia Law Review|year=1993|volume=79|pages=1453–58|doi=10.2307/1073379|issue=7|jstor=1073379|url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/1504}}</ref> While it is a relatively new practice to grant same-sex couples the same form of legal marital recognition as commonly granted to mixed-sex couples, there is some history of recorded same-sex unions around the world.<ref name="same_sex_marriage_a09">{{Cite book|last1=Alderson|first1=Kevin|last2=Lahey|first2=Kathleen A.|title=Same-Sex Marriage: The Personal and the Political|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hR0_CoNj6GAC&pg=RA1-PA16|year = 2004|publisher = Insomniac Press |isbn=978-1-894663-63-2|page=16}}</ref> [[Homosexuality in ancient Greece|Ancient Greek same-sex relationships]] were like modern companionate marriages, unlike their different-sex marriages in which the spouses had few emotional ties, and the husband had freedom to engage in outside sexual liaisons. The [[Codex Theodosianus]] (''C. Th.'' 9.7.3) issued in 438 [[Common Era|CE]] imposed severe penalties or death on same-sex relationships,<ref>''ubi scelus est id, quod non proficit scire, ubi venus mutatur in alteram formam, ubi amor quaeritur nec videtur, iubemus insurgere leges, armari iura gladio ultore, ut exquisitis poenis subdantur infames, qui sunt vel qui futuri sunt rei.''[http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/codex/theod/liber09.htm#7 Ancientrome.ru] "where that crime is found, which is unfit even to know, we command the law to arise armed with an avenging sword that the infamous men who are, or shall in future be guilty of it, may undergo the most severe punishments." translation by Lord [[William Blackstone]], ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]'' Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1769, Vol. IV, pp. 215–16.</ref> but the exact intent of the law and its relation to social practice is unclear, as only a few examples of same-sex relationships in that culture exist.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Kuefler |first=Mathew|year=2007|title=The Marriage Revolution in Late Antiquity: The Theodosian Code and Later Roman Marriage Law|journal = [[Journal of Family History]]|volume=32|pages=343–70|doi=10.1177/0363199007304424|issue=4|s2cid=143807895}}</ref> Same-sex unions were celebrated in some regions of China, such as [[Fujian]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hinsch|first1=Bret|title=Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China|year=1990|publisher=[[Reed Elsevier|Reed Business Information, Inc.]]|isbn=978-0-520-07869-7}}</ref> Possibly the earliest documented same-sex wedding in [[Latin Church|Latin Christendom]] occurred in [[Rome|Rome, Italy]], at the [[San Giovanni a Porta Latina]] basilica in 1581.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bway.net/~halsall/lgbh/lgbh-montaigne.txt|date=1998-12-05|access-date=2017-12-05 |title=Gay Marriage in Montaigne |website=bway.net |url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205014731/http://www.bway.net/~halsall/lgbh/lgbh-montaigne.txt|archive-date=5 December 1998}}</ref> ===Temporary marriages=== Several cultures have practised temporary and conditional marriages. Examples include the [[Celts|Celtic]] practice of [[handfasting]] and fixed-term marriages in the Muslim community. Pre-Islamic Arabs practiced a form of temporary marriage that carries on today in the practice of [[Nikah mut'ah]], a fixed-term marriage contract. The Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] sanctioned a temporary marriage – [[Nikah mut'ah|sigheh]] in [[Iran]] and muta'a in [[Iraq]] – which can provide a legitimizing cover for sex workers.<ref>{{Cite book | last = İlkkaracan | first = Pınar | title = Deconstructing sexuality in the Middle East: challenges and discourses | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pnGwP9-FhxYC&pg=PA36 | publisher =Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. | year = 2008 | page = 36 | isbn = 978-0-7546-7235-7}} </ref> The same forms of temporary marriage have been used in Egypt, Lebanon and Iran to make the donation of a human ova legal for [[in vitro fertilisation]]; a woman cannot, however, use this kind of marriage to obtain a sperm donation.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Inhorn|first=Marcia|title=Making Muslim Babies: IVF and Gamete Donation in Sunni versus Shi'a Islam|journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry|year=2006|volume=30|issue=4|pages=427–50|doi=10.1007/s11013-006-9027-x|pmid=17051430|pmc=1705533}}</ref> [[Nikah mut'ah#Western views|Muslim controversies related to Nikah Mut'ah]] have resulted in the practice being confined mostly to [[Shia Islam|Shi'ite]] communities. The matrilineal [[Mosuo]] of China practice what they call "walking marriage". ===Cohabitation=== {{See also|Cohabitation|Common-law marriage}} In some jurisdictions [[cohabitation]], in certain circumstances, may constitute a [[common-law marriage]], an [[Unregistered cohabitation|unregistered partnership]], or otherwise provide the unmarried partners with various rights and responsibilities; and in some countries, the laws recognize cohabitation in lieu of institutional marriage for taxation and social security benefits. This is the case, for example, in Australia.<ref>[http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/itaa1997240/s995.1.html Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 – Sect 995.1(1)]: ""spouse" of an individual includes: (a) another individual (whether of the same sex or a different sex) with whom the individual is in a relationship that is registered under a * State law or * Territory law prescribed for the purposes of section 22B of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as a kind of relationship prescribed for the purposes of that section; and (b) another individual who, although not legally married to the individual, lives with the individual on a genuine domestic basis in a relationship as a couple."</ref> Cohabitation may be an option pursued as a form of resistance to traditional institutionalized marriage. However, in this context, some nations reserve the right to define the relationship as marital, or otherwise to regulate the relation, even if the relation has not been registered with the state or a religious institution.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cherlin|first=Andrew J.|title=The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage|journal=Journal of Marriage and the Family|year=2004|volume=66|issue=4|pages=848–61|doi=10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00058.x|url=https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/evidence/DIX0049.pdf|access-date=25 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201000346/https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/evidence/DIX0049.pdf|archive-date=1 February 2017|citeseerx=10.1.1.614.8920}}</ref> Conversely, institutionalized marriages may not involve cohabitation. In some cases, couples living together do not wish to be recognized as married. This may occur because pension or alimony rights are adversely affected; because of taxation considerations; because of immigration issues, or for other reasons. Such marriages have also been increasingly common in [[Beijing]]. Guo Jianmei, director of the center for women's studies at Beijing University, told a [[Newsday]] correspondent, "Walking marriages reflect sweeping changes in Chinese society." A "walking marriage" refers to a type of temporary marriage formed by the [[Mosuo]] of China, in which male partners live elsewhere and make nightly visits.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gargan|first=Edward A.|title=China's New Brides Put Freedom First/All perks, no work in 'walking marriages'|page=A.04|work=[[Newsday]]|date=19 March 2001}}</ref> A similar arrangement in [[Saudi Arabia]], called [[Nikah Misyar|misyar marriage]], also involves the husband and wife living separately but meeting regularly.<ref>{{cite news|last=Karam|first=Souhail|title=Misyar offers marriage-lite in strict Saudi society|agency= Reuters| date = 21 July 2006|url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/07/21/misyar_offers_marriage_lite_in_strict_saudi_society/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218200946/http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/07/21/misyar_offers_marriage_lite_in_strict_saudi_society/|archive-date=18 February 2009|work=The Boston Globe}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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