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Article: The validity of marriage: who gets to decide? Who gets to choose?
- Article from:
- Conscience
- Article date:
- December 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Catholics for a Free Choice. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ONE OF THE MOST WIDESPREAD myths about the history of marriage is that it has always had to be solemnly validated by the church or the state. In fact, for most of Western history, marriage was a private contract between two families. It was the parents' or kin group's agreement to the match and not the sanction of church or state that confirmed its validity. Individuals whose parents were dead or who decided to defy the threat of disinheritance and social disapproval did not need anyone else's permission to marry (unless they were slaves or serfs, in which case their owner, not the state, made the decision).
During the Roman Empire, when a court had to decide ...