a contract, both civil and religious, between a man and a woman, by which they engage to live together in mutual love and friendship for the ends of procreation, &c. See MORAL PHILOSOPHY, n° 125, &c.

The first inhabitants of Greece lived together without marriage. Cecrops, king of Athens, was the first author of this honourable institution among that people. After the commonwealths of Greece were settled, marriage was very much encouraged by their laws; and the abstaining from it was discountenanced, and in many places punished. The Lacedemonians were particularly remarkable for their severity towards those who deferred marrying, as well as to those who wholly abstained from it. The Athenians had an express law, that all commanders, orators, and persons entrusted with any public affair, should be married men. Polygamy, or the having more than one wife at a time, was not commonly tolerated in Greece. See POLYGAMY.

The time of marriage was not the same in all places; the particular number of years to which they were limited, depended upon the humour of each lawgiver, nothing being generally agreed on this matter.

The Greeks thought it scandalous to contract marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity; while most of the barbarous nations allowed incestuous mixtures. Most of the Grecian states required that citizens should match with none but citizens; and the children were not allowed to marry without the consent of their parents: when there were orphan-virgins without any inheritance, the next of kin was obliged to marry them, or to settle a portion on them according to his quality.

The Romans, as well as the Greeks, disallowed of polygamy. A Roman might not marry any woman who was not a Roman. It was thought dishonourable for a woman to marry twice. Among the Romans, the kalends, nones, and ides, of each month were thought unlucky to be married in, as was also the feast of the parentalia, or feria, and the whole month of May was reckoned the most unhappy season.

We find but few laws in the books of Moses concerning the institution of marriage: he restrained the Israelites from marrying within certain degrees of consanguinity; but we find that polygamy, though not expressly allowed, is however tacitly implied in the laws of Moses: there is a particular law that obliged a man, whose brother died without issue, to marry his widow, and raise up children to his brother. The Hebrews purchased their wives, by paying down a competent dowry for them; and a man was at liberty to marry, not only in any of the 12 tribes, but even out of them, provided it was with such nations as used circumcision.

The ancient Christian church laid several restraints upon her members in relation to marriage; such was the rule forbidding Christians to marry with infidels and heathens: another restraint related to the consanguinity and affinity prohibited in Scripture: a third was, that children under age should not marry without the consent of their parents, guardians, or next relations: and another was, that there should be some parity of condition between the contracting parties. They not only condemned polygamy, but even reckoned it unlawful to marry after a divorce. As to the season in which marriage might or might not be celebrated in the Christian church, all we find is, that it was forbidden in Lent. The Romish church requires of the clergy perpetual abstinence from marriage; and has advanced this institution to the dignity of a sacrament. The church of England, though she does not consider marriage as a sacrament, yet looks upon it as an institution so sacred, as that it ought always to be celebrated by an ecclesiastical person; but marriages, without this sanction, are not therefore null and void. There is no canon of this church, which forbids marriages to be solemnized at any time. The canonical hours for celebrating of matrimony, are from eight to twelve in the forenoon. The impediments to marriage are specified in canon 102 of the English church, and are these: 1. A preceding marriage or contract, or any controversy or suit depending on the same. 2. Consanguinity or affinity. 3. Want of consent of parents, or guardians, &c.

Marriage, according to our law, cannot be dissolved but by death, breach of faith, or other notorious misbehaviour. It is requisite to complete a marriage, that there be a free and mutual consent between the parties. The marriages performed by Romish priests, whose orders are acknowledged by the church of England, are deemed good in some instances; but they ought to be solemnized agreeable to the rites of our own church, to be entitled to the benefits attending on marriage here, such as dower, thirds, &c. A marriage in reputation, as among the quakers, is allowed to be sufficient to give title to a personal estate; though in the case of a person married by a dissenting minister, who was not in orders, it has been held, that where a husband demands a right due to him as such by the ecclesiastical law, he ought to prove himself a husband, thereby to be intitled to it; and yet this marriage is not altogether a nullity, because, by the laws of nature, the contract is binding. On a promise of marriage, if it be mutual on both sides, damages may be recovered in case either party refuses to marry: and though no time for the marriage be agreed on, if the plaintiff aver that he offered to marry the defendant, who refused it, an action is maintainable for the damages; but no action shall be brought upon any agreement, except it is in writing, and signed by the party to be charged.

For the better preventing clandestine marriages, and the inconveniences arising therefrom, an act of parliament was passed, wherein the following regulations were made, viz. That from and after March 25, 1754, banns of matrimony shall be published in the parish-church, or some public chapel belonging to the parish wherein the parties dwell, upon three Sundays before the marriage, during the time of service, immediately after the second lesson: and where the parties dwell in different parishes, the banns shall be published in both; and the marriage shall be solemnized in the church or chapel wherein the banns were published, and nowhere else: and it is also required, that both or either of the parties to be married, do reside four weeks at least in the parish where the banns are published. Nothing in this act deprives the archbishop of Canterbury of his usual right of granting special licenses to marry at any convenient time or place. All marriages solemnized contrary to the foresaid regulations, shall be void; and the person solemnizing the same, shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and be transported for 14 years to his majesty's colonies. Marriages solemnized by license, where either of the parties (not being a widow or widower,) shall be under age, without the consent of the father first had (if living), or of the guardians or one of them, and where there shall be no guardians, of the mother (if living and unmarried), or of the guardian appointed by chancery, shall be void to all intents and purposes. Where any such guardian shall be non compos mentis, or in parts beyond the sea, or shall refuse their consent to a proper match, the party may apply by petition to the lord-chancellor, lord-keeper, or lords commissioners of the great seal, who shall proceed on such a petition in a summary way; and where the marriage proposed shall appear to be proper, they shall judicially declare the same to be so by an order of court, which shall be deemed effectual. All marriages shall be solemnized in the presence of two or more creditable witnesses besides the minister; and an entry thereof shall be immediately made in a register kept for that purpose. This act shall not extend to the marriages of any of the royal family, nor to Scotland, nor to those persons called quakers, nor those professing the Jewish religion. See Law, n° clx.

Policy of encouraging Marriage. Dr Halley observes, that the growth and increase of mankind is not to much stinted by any thing in the nature of the species, as it is from the cautious difficulty most people make to adventure on the state of marriage, from the prospect of the trouble and charge of providing for a family: nor are the poorer sort of people herein to be blamed, who, besides themselves and families, are obliged to work for the proprietors of the lands that feed them; and of such does the greater part of mankind consist. Were it not for the backwardness to marriage, there might be four times as many births as we find; for by computation from the table given under the article Mortality, there are 15,000 persons above 16 and under 45, of which at least 7000 are women capable of bearing children; yet there are only 1238, or little more than a sixth part of these, that breed yearly: whereas, were they all married, it is highly probable that four of six should bring forth a child every year, the political consequences of which are evident. Therefore, as the strength and glory of a kingdom or state consists in the multitude of subjects, celibacy above all things ought to be discouraged, as by extraordinary taxing or military service: and, on the contrary, those who have numerous families should be allowed certain privileges and immunities, like the jus trium liberorum among the Romans; and especially, by effectually providing for the subsistence of the poor.