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.
Marriage is part of the law of nations, and is in use among all people. The Romanists account it a sacrament.—The woman, with all her moveable goods, immediately upon marriage, passes wholly in potestatem viri, into the power and disposal of the husband.
The first inhabitants of Greece lived together without marriage. Cecrops, king of Athens, is said to have been 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 discommended and in many places punished. The Lacedemonians were very remarkable for their fervency towards those who deferred marriage beyond a limited time, as well as to those who wholly abstained from it. The Athenians had an express law, that all commanders, orators, and persons intrusted with any public affair, should be married men. Polygamy was not commonly tolerated in Greece. The time of marriage was not the same in all places. The Spartans were not permitted to marry till they arrived at their full strength; the reason assigned for which custom by Lycurgus was, that the Spartan children might be strong and vigorous; and the Athenian laws are said to have once ordered, that men should not marry till 35 years of age. The season of the year which they preferred for this purpose was the winter, and particularly the month of January, called Gamelion. The Greeks thought thought it scandalous to contract marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity; whilst most of the barbarous nations allowed incestuous mixtures.
Most of the Grecian states, especially such as made any figure, required their citizens should match with none but citizens, and the children were not allowed to marry without the consent of their parents. The usual ceremony in promising fidelity was kissing each other, or giving their right hands, which was a general form of ratifying all agreements. Before the marriage could be solemnized, the gods were to be consulted, and their affluence implored by prayers and sacrifices, which were offered to some of the deities who superintended these affairs, by the parents or nearest relations of the persons to be married. When the victim was opened, the gall was taken out and thrown behind the altar, as being the seat of anger and malice, and therefore the aversion of all the deities who had the care of love, as well as those who became their votaries. For the particularities relating to the bride and bridegroom, see Bride and Bridegroom.
The Romans, as well as the Greeks, disallowed of polygamy. A Roman might not marry any woman who was not a Roman. Among the Romans, the kalends, nones, and ides of every month were deemed unlucky for the celebration of marriage, as was also the feast of the parentalia, and the whole month of May. The most happy season in every respect was that which followed the ides of June.
The Roman laws speak of second marriages in very hard and odious terms: "Maiest jam secundis nuptiis fugitata," L. iii. C. de sec. nupt. By these laws it was enacted, that the effects of the husband or wife deceased should pass over to the children, if the survivor should marry a second time. By the law Hac editiali (Cod. de sec. nupt.), the survivor, upon marrying a second time, could not give the person he married a portion more than equal to that of each of the children. In the primitive church the respect to chastity was carried so high, that a second marriage was accounted no other than a lawful whoredom, or a species of bigamy; and there are some ancient canons which forbid the ecclesiastics from being present at second marriages.
Marriage, by the Mosaic law, was subject to several restrictions: thus by Levit. chap. xviii. ver. 16, a man was forbidden to marry his brother's widow unless he died without issue; in which case it became enjoined as a duty. So it was forbidden to marry his wife's sister, while she was living, ver. 18; which was not forbidden before the law, as appears from the instance of Jacob.
The ancient Roman law is silent on this head; and Papinian is the first who mentions it, on occasion of the marriage of Caracalla. The lawyers who came after him stretched the bonds of affinity so far, that they placed adoption on the same foot with nature.
Affinity, according to the modern canonists, renders marriage unlawful to the fourth generation, inclusive; but this is to be understood of direct affinity, and not of that which is secondary or collateral. Affinis mei affinis, non est affinis meus. It is farther to be observed, that this impediment of marriage does not only follow an affinity contracted by lawful matrimony, but also that
contracted by a criminal commerce; with this difference, that this last does extend beyond the second generation; whereas the other, as has been observed, reaches to the fourth.
In Germany they have a kind of marriage called morganatic, wherein a man of quality contracting with a woman of inferior rank, he gives her the left hand in lieu of the right; and stipulates in the contract that the wife shall continue in her former rank or condition; and that the children born of them shall be of the same, so that they become bastards as to matters of inheritance, though they are legitimate in effect. They cannot bear the name or arms of the family. None but princes and great lords of Germany are allowed this kind of marriage. The universities of Leipzig and Jena have declared against the validity of such contracts; maintaining that they cannot prejudice the children, especially when the emperor's consent intervenes in the marriage.
The Turks have three kinds of marriages, and three sorts of wives; legitimate, wives in kebin, and slaves. They marry the first, hire the second, and buy the third.
Among all the savage nations, whether in Asia, Africa, or America, the wife is commonly bought by the husband from her father or those other relations who have an authority over her; and the conclusion of a bargain for this purpose, together with the payment of the price, has therefore become the usual form or solemnity in the celebration of their marriages. The Hebrews also purchased their wives by paying down a competent dowry for them; and Aristotle makes it one argument to prove that the ancient Grecians were an uncivilized people, because they used to buy their wives; and in proportion as they laid aside their barbarous manners they left off this practice.
The English law considers marriage in no other light than as a civil contract; the holiness of the matrimonial state being left entirely to the ecclesiastical law, to which it pertains, to punish or annul incestuous or other unscriptural marriages. The law allows marriage to be good and valid, where the parties at the time of making it were willing and able to contract, and actually did contract, in the proper forms and solemnities required by law. The disabilities for contracting are of two sorts: first, such as are canonical, and therefore sufficient by the ecclesiastical laws to void the marriage in the spiritual court; such as pre-contract, consanguinity or relation by blood; and affinity, or relation by marriage, and some particular corporal infirmities. But these disabilities in our law do not make the marriage ipso facto void, but voidable only by sentence of separation; and marriages are esteemed valid to all civil purposes, unless such separation is actually made during the life of the parties. Thus when a man had married his first wife's sister, and after her death the bishop's court was proceeding to annul the marriage and bastardise the issue, the court of king's bench granted a prohibition quod hoc; but permitted them to proceed to punish the husband for incest.
By 3 Hen. VIII. c. 38, it is declared, that all persons may lawfully marry but such as are prohibited by God's law, &c. And that nothing (God's law excepted) shall impeach any marriage but within the Levitical degrees; these are enumerated in the 18th chapter. chapter of Leviticus, and are illustrated by Lord Coke in this manner: a man may not marry his mother, father's sister, mother's sister, sister, daughter, daughter of his son or daughter, father's wife, uncle's wife, father's wife's daughter, brother's wife, wife's sister, son's wife or wife's daughter, and daughter of his wife's son or daughter. And a woman may not marry her father, father's brother, mother's brother, brother, son, son of her husband's son or daughter, mother's husband, aunt's husband, sister's husband, husband's brother, and son of her husband's son or daughter.
By the civil law first cousins are allowed to marry; but by the canon law both first and second cousins are prohibited. Therefore when it is vulgarly said that first cousins may marry but second cousins cannot, this probably arose by confounding these two laws; for first cousins may marry by the civil law, and second cousins cannot by the canon law. But by the foregoing statute, 32 Hen. VIII. c. 38, it is clear, that both first and second cousins may marry. By the same statute all impediments arising from precontract to other persons were abolished, and declared of none effect unless they had been consummated with bodily knowledge; in which case the canon law holds such contract to be a marriage de facto. But this branch of the statute was repealed by 2 and 3 Ed. VI. c. 23.
How far the act of 26 Geo. II. c. 33. (which prohibits all suits in ecclesiastical courts to compel a marriage in consequence of any contract) may collaterally extend to revive this clause of Henry VIII.'s statute, and abolish the impediment of precontract, Judge Blackstone leaves to be considered by the canonists.
We shall here observe, that 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 is agreed on, if the plaintiff avers 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. The canonical hours for celebrating marriage are from 8 to 12 in the forenoon.
The other sort of disabilities are those which are created, or at least enforced, by the municipal laws. These civil disabilities make the contract void ab initio, by rendering the parties incapable of forming any contract at all. The first legal disability is a prior marriage, or having another husband or wife living; in which case, besides the penalties consequent upon it as a felony, the second marriage is to all intents and purposes void. See Bigamy and Polygamy.
The next legal disability is want of age: therefore if a boy under 14, or a girl under 12 years of age, marries, when either of them comes to the age of consent, they may disagree and declare the marriage void, without any divorce or sentence in the spiritual court. However, in our law it is so far a marriage, that if at the age of consent they agree to continue together, they need not be married again. Another incapacity arises from want of consent of parents or guardians. By several statutes, viz. 6 and 7 W. III. c. 6, 7, 8, W. III. c. 35. 10 Ann. c. 19. penalties of 100l. are laid on every clergyman who marries a couple either without publication of banns, which may give notice to parents or guardians, or without a licence, to obtain which the consent of parents or guardians must be sworn to. And by 4 and 5 Ph. and M. c. 8. whoever marries any woman child under the age of 16 years, without consent of parents or guardians, shall be subject to fine or five years imprisonment; and her estate during her husband's life shall be enjoyed by the next heir. Thus also in France the sons cannot marry without consent of parents till 30 years of age, nor the daughters till 25; and in Holland the sons are at their own disposal at 25, and the daughters at 20. And by the marriage act, viz. 26 Geo. II. c. 33. it is enacted, that all marriages celebrated by licence (for banns suppose notice), where either of the parties is under 21, not being a widow or widower, without the consent of the father, or if he be not living, of the mother or guardians, shall be absolutely void. However, provision is made where the mother or guardian is non compos, beyond sea, or unreasonably forward, to dispense with such consent at the discretion of the lord chancellor; but no provision is made in case the father should labour under any mental or other incapacity. A fourth incapacity is want of reason. It is provided by 15 Geo. II. c. 30. that the marriage of lunatics and boys under fourteen (if found lunatics under a commission or committed to the care of trustees by any act of parliament) before they are declared of sound mind by the lord chancellor, or the majority of such trustees, shall be totally void. Lastly, The parties must not only be willing and able to contract, but must actually contract themselves in due form of law, to make it a good civil marriage. Any contract made per verba de praesenti, or in words of the present tense, and in case of cohabitation per verba de futuro also between persons able to contract, was before the late act deemed a valid marriage to many purposes, and the parties might be compelled in the spiritual courts to celebrate it in facie ecclesiae. But these verbal contracts are now of no force to compel a future marriage. Nor is any marriage at present valid that is not celebrated in some parish church, or public chapel, unless by dispensation from the archbishop of Canterbury. It must also be preceded by publication of banns or by licence from the spiritual judge. A marriage in pursuance of banns must be solemnized in one of the churches or chapels where the banns were published. No parson, vicar, &c. shall be obliged to publish banns of matrimony, unless the persons to be married shall, seven days before the time required for the first publication, deliver to him a notice in writing of their true names, and of the house or houses of their respective abode within such parish, &c., and of the time that they have dwelt in such house or houses. And the said banns shall be published upon three Sundays preceding the solemnization of marriage during the time of public service; in case the parents or guardians, or either of the parties who shall be under the age of 21 years, shall openly and publicly declare, or cause to be declared, in the church or chapel where the banns shall be published, at the time of such publication, their dissent to such marriage, such publication of banns shall be void. And when the parties dwell in divers parishes, the curate of the one parish shall not solemnize matrimony betwixt them without a certificate of the banns being thrice asked from the curate. Marriage of the other parish. A marriage in pursuance of a license (except a special license), must be solemnized in such church or chapel where the license is granted; and no license of marriage shall be granted by any archbishop, bishop, &c. to solemnize any marriage in any other church, &c. than in the parish church, &c. within which the usual place of abode of one of the parties shall have been for four weeks immediately before the granting such license. By the same statute all marriages shall be solemnized in the presence of two credible witnesses at least, besides the minister, who shall sign their attestation thereof; and immediately after the celebration of every marriage, an entry thereof shall be made in the parish register, expressing that the said marriage was celebrated by banns or license; and if both or either of the parties be under age, with consent of the parents or guardians, as the case shall be, signed by the minister, and also by the parties married, and attested by the two witnesses present. It is held to be also essential to a marriage, that it be performed by a person in orders; though the intervention of a priest to solemnize this contract is merely juris positivus and not juris naturalis aut divini; it being said that Pope Innocent III. was the first who ordained the celebration of marriage in the church, before which it was totally a civil contract. And in the times of the grand rebellion, all marriages were performed by the justices of the peace; and these marriages were declared valid without any fresh solemnization, by 12 Car. II. c. 33. But as the law now stands, we may upon the whole collect, that no marriage by the temporal law is ipso facto void, that is celebrated by a person in orders; in a parish church, a public chapel, or elsewhere, by a special dispensation; in pursuance of banns or a license; between single persons; consenting; of sound mind; and of the age of 21 years; or of the age of 14 in males and 12 in females, with consent of parents or guardians, or without it, in case of widowhood. And no marriage is voidable by the ecclesiastical law after the death of either of the parties; nor during their lives, unless for the canonical impediments of precontract, if that indeed still exists; of consanguinity; and of affinity or corporal imbecility subsisting previous to the marriage.
By 26 Geo. II. c. 33. the substance of which has been already recited, if any person shall solemnize matrimony in any other place than a church, &c. where banns have been usually published, unless by special license, or without publication of banns, unless license of marriage be first obtained from some person having authority to grant the same, every such person knowingly so offending shall be guilty of felony, and transported for 14 years; the prosecution to be within three years. By the same statute, to make a false entry into a marriage register; to alter it when made; to forge or counterfeit such entry, or a marriage license, or aid and abet such forgery; or to utter the same as true, knowing it to be counterfeit; or to destroy or procure the destruction of any register in order to vacate any marriage, or subject any person to the penalties of this act; all these offenses, knowingly and wilfully committed, subject the party to the guilt of felony without benefit of clergy. But this act doth not extend to the marriages of the royal family; nor to Scotland; nor to any marriages among the people called Quakers, or among persons professing the Jewish religion, where both the parties are Quakers or Jews respectively; nor to any marriages beyond the seas.
In Scotland, the parties living together as husband and wife, or declaring themselves so before witnesses, makes a valid though informal marriage. See Law, Part III. No 160.
For the proportions which marriages bear to births, and births to burials, in several parts of Europe, Mr Derham gives us the following table.
| Names of Places | Marriages to Births, as | Births to Burials, as | |--------------------------------------|------------------------|----------------------| | England in general | 1 to 4.63 | 1.12 to 1 | | London | 1 to 4 | 1.1 to 1 | | Hantshire, from 1560 to 1668 | 1 to 4 | 1.2 to 1 | | Tiverton in Devonshire from 1656 to 1664 | 1 to 3.7 | 1.26 to 1 | | Cranbrook in Kent, from 1560 to 1649 | 1 to 3.9 | 1.6 to 1 | | Aynho, in Northamptonshire, for 118 years | 1 to 6 | 1.6 to 1 | | Upminster in Essex, for 100 years | 1 to 4.6 | 1.8 to 1 | | Franckfort on the Main, in 1695 | 1 to 3.7 | 1.2 to 1 | | Old, Middle, and Lower Marek, in 1698 | 1 to 3.7 | 1.9 to 1 | | Dominions of the elector of Brandenburg, in 1698 | 1 to 3.7 | 1.5 to 1 | | Breslaw in Silesia, from 1687 to 1691 | | 1.6 to 1 | | Paris, in 1670, 1671, 1672 | 1 to 4.7 | 1.6 to 1 | The following Table, similar to the preceding, is formed from the observations collected and referred to by Dr Price.
| Names of Places | Marriages to Births, as | Births to Burials, as | |-----------------|------------------------|----------------------| | London, annual medium from 1716 to 1736 | - | 18,000 to 26,529, or 1 to 1.4, &c. | | - from 1739 to 1768 | - | 15,710 to 22,956, or 1 to 1.4, &c. | | Northampton, ditto, from 1741 to 1770 | - | 155 to 191, or 1 to 1.2, &c. | | Norwich, ditto, from 1740 to 1769 | - | 1057 to 1206, or 1 to 1.1, &c. | | Shrewsbury, ditto, from 1762 to 1768 | - | 301 to 329, or 1 to 1.09, &c. | | Manchester and Salford, exclusive of dissenters | - | 7,56 to 743, &c. | | Ditto, from 1755 to 1759 | - | 1098 to 953, or 1.14, &c. to 1. | | Ditto, ditto, including dissenters, from 1763 to 1772 | - | 126 to 105, or 1.2 to 1. | | Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, ditto, from 1752 to 1771 | I to 3.7 | 2201 to 1293, or 1.7 to 1. | | Madeira, ditto, from 1759 to 1766 | I to 4.68 | 538 to 608, or 1 to 1.13, &c. | | Boston in New England, from 1731 to 1752 | - | 11,024 to 6929, or 1.5 to 1. | | Christiana in Norway, in 1761 | - | 19,100 to 19,400, or 1 to 1.01, &c. | | Paris, mean of some of the last years | I to 4.3 | 5800 to 6602, or 1 to 1.1, &c. | | Vienna, annual medium from 1757 to 1769 | - | 4600 to 8020, or 1 to 1.1, &c. | | Amsterdam, ditto, for some of the last years | I to 1.9, &c. | 2700 to 3300, or 1 to 1.2, &c. | | Copenhagen, ditto | - | 3815 to 5054, or 1 to 1.3, &c. | | Berlin, ditto, for five years, ending at 1759 | I to 3.04, &c. | 1089 to 1256, or 1 to 1.15, &c. | | Breslau, ditto, from 1633 to 1734 | I to 3.9, &c. | 1252 to 1507, or 1 to 1.2, &c. | | Ditto, from 1717 to 1725 | - | 5167 to 7153, or 1 to 1.3, &c. | | Rome, ditto, from 1759 to 1761 | - | 3155 to 2504, or 1.2, &c. to 1. | | Vaud in Switzerland, ditto, for 10 years before 1766 | I to 3.9 | - |
For an account of the numbers of male and female stillborn children and chrysons, and of boys and girls under ten, of married men and married women, and of widows and widowers, who died for a course of years at Vienna, Breslau, Dresden, Leipzig, Ratibon, and some other towns in Germany, see Phil. Trans. Abr. vol. vii. part iv. p. 46, &c.
The reader may find many curious calculations and remarks relating to this subject in Dr Price's excellent work, entitled, Observations on Revolutionary Payments. From the preceding table it appears, that marriages, one with another, do each produce about four births, both in England and other parts of Europe. Dr Price observes, that the births at Paris, as may be seen in the table, are above four times the weddings; and therefore it may seem, that in the most healthy country situations, every wedding produces above four children; and though this be the case in Paris, for reasons which he has given, he has observed nothing like it in any other great town. He adds, that from comparing the births and weddings in countries and towns where registers of them have been kept, it appears, that in the former, marriages one with another seldom produce less than four children each; generally between four and five, and sometimes above five; but in towns seldom above four, generally between three and four, and sometimes under three. It is necessary to be observed here, that though the proportion of annual births to weddings has been considered as giving the true number of children derived from each marriage, taking all marriages one with another: yet this is only true, when, for many years, the births and burials have kept nearly equal. Where there is an excess of the births occasioning an increase, the proportion of annual births to weddings must be less than the proportion of children derived from each marriage; and the contrary must take place where there is a decrease: and by Mr King's computation, about one in a hundred and four persons marry; the number of people in England being estimated at five millions and a half, whereof about forty-one thousand annually marry.
In the district of Vaud in Switzerland, the married are very nearly a third part of the inhabitants.
Major Graunt and Mr King disagree in the proportions between males and females, the latter making 10 males to 13 females in London; in other cities and towns, and in the villages and hamlets, 100 males to 99 females: but Major Graunt, both from the London and country bills, computes, that there are in England 14 males to 13 females; whence he justly infers, that the Christian religion, prohibiting polygamy, is more agreeable to the law of nature than Mahometaism and others that allow it.
This proportion of males to females Mr Darham thinks pretty just, being agreeable to what he had observed himself. In the hundred years, for instance, of his own parish-register of Upminster, though the burials of males and females were nearly equal, being 633 males and 623 females in all that time; yet there were baptized 709 males and but 675 females, which is 13 females to 13.7 males.
From a register kept at Northampton for 28 years, from 1741 to 1779, it appears, that the proportion of males to females that were born in that period is 236 to 2288, or nearly 13.4 to 13. However, though more males are born than females, Dr Price has sufficiently shown, that there is a considerable difference between the probabilities of life among males and females in favour of the latter; so that males are more short-lived. Marriage, shortlived than females; and as the greater mortality of males takes place among children, as well as among males at all ages, the fact cannot be accounted for merely by their being more subject to untimely deaths by various accidents, and by their being addicted to the excesses and irregularities which shorten life. Mr Kerlieboom informs us, that, during the course of 125 years in Holland, females have in all accidents of age lived about three or four years longer than the same number of males. In several towns of Germany, &c., it appears that of 7270 married persons who had died, the proportion of married men who died to the married women was 3 to 2; and in Brellaw for eight years, as 5 to 3. In all Pomerania, during nine years, from 1748 to 1756, this proportion was nearly 15 to 11. Among the ministers and professors in Scotland, 20 married men die to 12 married women at a medium of 27 years, or in the proportion of 5 to 3; so that there is the chance of 3 to 2, and in some circumstances even a greater chance, that the woman shall be the survivor of a marriage, and not the man; and this difference cannot be accounted for merely by the difference of age between husbands and their wives, without admitting the greater mortality of males. In the district of Vaud in Switzerland, it appears, that half the females do not die till the age of 46 and upwards, though half the males die under 36. It is likewise an indisputable fact, that in the beginning of life, the rate of mortality among males is much greater than among females.
From a table formed by Dr Price, from a register kept for 20 years at Gainborough, it appears, that of those who lived to 80, the major part, in the proportion of 49 to 32, are females. Mr Deparcieux at Paris, and Mr Wargentin in Sweden, have farther observed, that not only women live longer than men, but that married women live longer than single women. From some registers examined by Mr Muret in Switzerland, it appears, that of equal numbers of single and married women between 15 and 25, more of the former died than of the latter, in the proportion of 2 to 1.
With respect to the difference between the mortality of males and females, it is found to be much less in country parishes and villages than in towns; and hence it is inferred, that human life in males is more brittle than in females, only in consequence of adventitious causes, or of some particular debility, that takes place in polished and luxurious societies, and especially in great towns.
From the inequality above stated between the males and females that are born, it is reasonable to infer, that one man ought to have but one wife; and yet that every woman without polygamy may have a husband: this surpluflage of males above females being spent in the supplies of war, the seas, &c., from which the women are exempt.
Perhaps, says Dr Price, it might have been observed with more reason, that this provision had in view that particular weakness or delicacy in the constitution of males, which makes them more subject to mortality; and which consequently renders it necessary that more of them should be produced, in order to preserve in the world a due proportion between the two sexes.
That this is a work of Providence, and not of change, is well made out by the very laws of chance by Dr Arbuthnot; who supposes Thomas to lay against Marriages. John, that for 82 years running more males shall be born than females; and giving all allowances in the computation to Thomas's side, he makes the odds against Thomas, that it does not happen, to be near five millions of millions of millions of millions to one; but for ages of ages, according to the world's age, to be near an infinite number to one.
According to Mr Kerlieboom's observations, there are about 325 children born from 100 marriages.
Mr Kerlieboom, from his observations, estimates the duration of marriages, one with another, as in the following table.
| Ages | Number | |------|--------| | 40 | 24 | | 50 | 22 | | 60 | 23 | | 70 | 19 | | 80 | 17 | | 90 | 14 | | 100 | 12 |
Phil. Trans. N° 468. sect. iii. p. 319.
Dr Price has shown, that on De Moivre's hypothesis, or that the probabilities of life decrease uniformly (see Complement of Life), the duration of survivorship is equal to the duration of marriage, when the ages are equal; or, in other words, that the expectation of two joint lives, the ages being equal, is the same with the expectation of survivorship; and, consequently, the number of survivors, or (which is the same, supposing no second marriages) of widows and widowers, alive together, which will arise from any given set of such marriages constantly kept up, will be equal to the whole number of marriages, or half of them (the number of widows in particular) equal to half the number of marriages. Thus, the expectation of two joint lives, both 40, is the third of 46 years, or their complement, i.e. 15 years and 4 months; and this is also the expectation of the survivor. That is, supposing a set of marriages between persons all 40, they will one with another last just this time, and the survivors will last the same time. In adding together the years which any great number of such marriages, and their survivorships, have lasted, the sums would be found to be equal. It is observed farther, that if the number expressing the expectation of single or joint lives, multiplied by the number of single or joint lives whose expectation it is, be added annually to a society or town, the sum gives the whole number living together, to which such an annual addition would in time grow: thus, since 19, or the third of 57, is the expectation of two joint lives whose common age is 29, or common complement 57, 20 marriages every year between persons of this age would in 57 years grow to 20 times 19, or 380 marriages always existing together. The number of survivors also arising from these marriages, and always living together, would in twice 57 years increase to the same number. Moreover, the particular proportion that becomes extinct every year, out of the whole number constantly existing together of single or joint lives, must, wherever this number undergoes no variation, be exactly the same with the expectation of those lives at the time when their existence commenced. Thus, if it were Marriage found that a 19th part of all the marriages among any body of men whose numbers do not vary, are dissolved every year by the deaths of either the husband or wife, it would appear, that 19 was at the time they were contracted, the expectation of these marriages. Dr Price observes, that the annual average of weddings among the ministers and professors in Scotland for the last 27 years has been 31; and the average of married persons for 17 years ending in 1767, had been 667. This number, divided by 31, gives 21½, the expectation of marriage among them; which, he says, is above 2½ years more than the expectation of marriage would be, by Dr Halley's table, on the supposition, that all first, second, and third marriages, may be justly considered as commencing one with another so early as the age of 30; and he has proved, that the expectation of two equal joint lives is to the expectation of a single life of the same age as 2 to 3; consequently, the expectation of a single life at 30, among the ministers in Scotland, cannot be less than 32.25. If we suppose the mean ages of all who marry annually to be 33 and 25, the expectation of every marriage would be 19 years; or one with another they would be all extinct in 19 years: the marriages which continue beyond this term, though fewer in number, enjoying among them just as much more duration as those that fall short of it enjoy less. But it appears from the observations and tables of Mr Muret, that, in the district of Vaud (dividing half the number of married persons, viz. 38,328, by the annual medium of weddings, viz. 808), the expectation of marriage is only 23½ years: so much higher are the probabilities of life in the country than in towns, or than they ought to be, according to De Moivre's hypothesis.
Marriage (Maritagium), in Law, signifies not only the lawful joining of man and wife, but also the right of bestowing a ward or a widow in marriage, as well as the land given in marriage.
Dissolution of Marriage. See Divorce.
Forcible Marriage. See Forcible Marriage.
Frank Marriage. See Frank.
Facilitation of Marriage, in Law, is one of the first and principal matrimonial causes, when one of the parties boasts or gives out, that he or she is married to the other, whereby a common reputation of their matrimony may ensue. On this ground the party injured may libel the other in the spiritual court; and unless the defendant undertakes and makes out a proof of the actual marriage, he or she is enjoined perpetual silence on that head; which is the only remedy the ecclesiastical courts can give for this injury.
Marriage Settlement is a legal act, previous to marriage, whereby a jointure is secured to the wife after the death of the husband. These settlements seem to have been in use among the ancient Germans, and their kindred nation the Gauls. Of the former Tacitus gives us this account: Dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus afferit: interfunt parentes et propinqui, et munera probant (De Mor. Germ. c. 18.). And Caesar, (De Bell. Gallic. lib. vi. c. 18.) has given us the terms of a marriage settlement among the Gauls, as nicely calculated as any modern jointure: Viri, quantas pecunias ab uxorisibus dotis nomine accepereunt, tantas ex suis bonis, aflatione facta, cum dotibus communicant. Hujus omnis pecuniae conjunctim ratio habetur, fructuque servatur. Uter eorum vita superavit, ad eum pars utriusque cum fructibus superiorum temporum pertenit. The dauphin's commentator supposes that this Gaulish custom was the ground of the new regulations made by Justinian, Nov. 97, with regard to the provision for widows among the Romans; but surely there is as much reason to suppose, says Judge Blackstone, that it gave the hint for our statutable jointures. Comment. vol. ii. p. 138.
See an excellent marriage settlement by Blackstone in the appendix to the second volume of his Commentaries.
Duty of Marriage, is a term used in some ancient customs, signifying an obligation on women to marry. To understand this, it must be observed, that old maids and widows about sixty, who held fees in body, or were charged with any personal or military services, were anciently obliged to marry, to render those services to the lord by their husbands, or to indemnify the lord for what they could not do in person. And this was called duty or service of marriage.
Policy of encouraging Marriage. Dr Halley observes, that the growth and increase of mankind is not so much stinted by anything 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 fifth 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.