Marriage Laws

Marriage most often refers to the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife. This longstanding tradition comes from English common law, wherein marriage was considered as a contract between the two parties involved. Additionally, marriage was considered a prerequisite to having children and creating a family unit. Those who did not marry, had affairs, or had children out of wedlock were considered immoral and a threat to civilization and society at large. In a traditional marriage contract, the husband was expected to be the breadwinner, typically working to earn an income and provide the wife and children with food, clothing, and shelter. It was the wife’s responsibility to maintain and manage the home, raise the children, and indulge her husband sexually. While that framework serves as the basis for modern-day marriage, expectations and roles within a marriage have changed significantly.

Legal Background

In the United States, marriage laws are relegated to the state judicial systems. From a legal standpoint, marriage comes with obligations and rights for both partners. However, laws surrounding marriage vary significantly from state to state and include specifications as to who can marry and how and when a marriage may be legally dissolved, most often through divorce, annulment, or death of one of the parties involved. Someone who is legally married may not marry another person. Other restrictions that vary by state include age and gender. Under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, no state is obliged to recognize a marriage between same-sex individuals from another jurisdiction. However, the DOMA was recently deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Affected Groups

Adults are permitted to marry and the majority of people do at some point over the lifespan, which means that marriage laws affect a large percentage of the population. Data from the 2010 United States Census indicates that among all female adults, 23.6% had never married, 55.2% were married, 9.6% were widowed, and 11.7% were divorced. Similarly, among males, 30.4% had never married, 58.0% were married, 2.7% were widowed, and 9.0% were divorced. In 2009, there were over two million new marriages that took place in the United States. The average age of first marriage has also increased significantly in the past decades. In 2009, it was reported as 28 for men and 26 for women in the United States.

Challenges

One of the major sources of conflict among marriage laws has to do with individuals from different backgrounds or jurisdictions. Since marriage is a very common institution, marriage laws are for the most part inclusive to all persons, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, or religion. Marriage between same-sex individuals is current topic of interest across the country that has received a lot of attention from the press during recent years. Approximately nineteen states have adopted laws in favor of same-sex marriage, while 31 others have rejected same-sex marriage laws and are in the process of court appeal.