Marriage law in England and Wales is a historical relic which reflects a bygone age.
Successive governments have made a series of progressive but ad hoc reforms, most notably the introduction of civil partnerships and same-sex marriage. However, this has resulted in a legal framework which is complex and controversial, especially in relation to religion.
This book provides the first accessible guide to how contemporary marriage law interacts with religion and identifies pressure points in relation to non-religious organisations and unregistered religious marriages. It reveals the need for the consolidation, modernisation and reform of marriage law and sets out proposals for how the transformation of these laws can be achieved.
533 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 7 • no 3 • 533–35 • ©Policy Press • 2018 Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7433 • https://doi.org/10.1332/204674318X15384703725901 Accepted for publication 04 September 2018 • First published online 13 October 2018 open space Why marriage? Natalie Sweeney, natalielavonia@hotmail.com UK key words marriage • sexuality • policy To cite this article: Sweeney, N. (2018) Why marriage?, Familes, Relationships and Societies, 7(3): 533–35, DOI: 10.1332/204674318X15384703725901 Marriage: the “formal union of a
119 SIX Love, sexuality, and (non)marriage Brownfield Copeland, a fictionalized character in The third life of Grange Copeland, is the son of black sharecroppers who is left mostly unattended by his parents, at least until he starts picking cotton at the age of six. His family lives in dire poverty in a two-room Georgia shack, where Brownfield watches his father “freeze up” with fear and humbleness when the white landowners come around. Outside their presence, however, he is a binge- drinking, womanizing, patriarchal tyrant who routinely beats his wife and
Cohabiting couples and those entering religious-only marriages all too often end up with inadequate legal protection when the relationship ends. Yet, despite this shared experience, the linkages and overlaps between these two groups have largely been ignored in the legal literature.
Based on wide-ranging empirical studies, this timely book brings together scholars working in both areas to explore the complexities of the law, the different ways in which individuals experience and navigate the existing legal framework and the potential solutions for reform.
Illuminating pressing implications for social policy, this is an invaluable resource for policy makers, practitioners, researchers and students of family law.
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
In principle, couples getting married in England and Wales can choose to do so in a way that reflects their beliefs. In practice, the possibility of doing so varies considerably depending on the religious or non-religious beliefs they hold.
To demonstrate this divergence, this book draws on the accounts of 170 individuals who had, or led, a wedding ceremony outside the legal framework. The authors examine what these ceremonies can tell us about how couples want to marry, and what aspects of the current law preclude them from doing so.
This new evidence shows how the current law does not reflect social understandings of what makes a wedding meaningful. As recommended by the Law Commission, reform is urgently needed.
157 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 4 • no 1 • 157–62 • © Policy Press 2015 • #FRS Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7443 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674315X14207948135734 Cohabitation and marriage in England and Wales Rebecca Probert, rebecca.probert@warwick.ac.uk University of Warwick, UK Over the last 50 years, marriage in England and Wales has shifted from near-universality to being merely one option. A ‘marriage divide’ has emerged, with the likelihood of marriage being affected by education and income. While few of those marrying
43 FOUR From marriage to alternative union forms In this chapter we continue the empirical investigation into the changing landscape of late-life intimacy. A central aspect of the transformation of intimacy is the deinstitutionalisation of marriage and the concurrent emergence of alternative forms for intimacy. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate union form in older people’s intimate relationships. Older people are often expected to be conservative in their choice of union form – because they grew up in a time when marriage was the norm for
129 8 Marriage and the Division of Labour Most housewives are married women. On a national scale, one British survey of women’s work came up with a figure of ninety-two per cent for the proportion of housewives who are married. (A further six per cent were divorced or widowed.)1 Legal definitions current in our culture tie the status of ‘wife’ to the role of unpaid domestic worker. The husband is legally entitled to unpaid domestic service from his wife, and this is a right that courts of law uphold. National insurance and social security systems are
425 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 2 • no 3 • 425–39 • © Policy Press 2013 • #FRS ISSN 2046 7435 • ISSN 2046 7466 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674313X665913 The making of selfhood: naming decisions on marriage Rachel Thwaites (ret508@york.ac.uk) University of York, UK This article outlines the ways in which British women make sense of and reconcile facets of their identities at the point of marriage through the naming decisions they make. Both name changing and name retaining are considered. The dialectic between self and others is considered
53 Families, Relationships and Societies • vol 4 • no 1 • 53–70 • © Policy Press 2015 • #FRS Print ISSN 2046 7435 • Online ISSN 2046 7443 • http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204674314X14036151626086 research Transiting through cohabitation to marriage: emerging commitment and diminishing ambiguity Vivienne Elizabeth,1 v.elizabeth@auckland.ac.nz Maureen Baker, ma.baker@auckland.ac.nz University of Auckland, New Zealand This article extends discussions about the meaning of cohabitation for cohabitants by drawing on our qualitative interviews from New Zealand with
