Marriage

Marriage is a ritual or ceremony which legally binds two people together. Marriage can be achieved through judicial means of applying for a license, as well as religiously through a clerics consent to espouse. After marriage, two people are joined together in a legal, social and often religious contract. Marriage refers also to the period after the marriage ceremony or wedding. Historically, couples have gotten married for the purpose of having children, but companionship, intimacy and financial security have become additional reasons for the modern marriage.

Common law marriage is a situation where a couple has represented themselves as husband and wife for a certain period of time, but have never applied for a marriage license or certificate. A key provision of common law marriage is that the individuals wish to be married—two people living together that do not want to be married cannot be forced into marriage under common law. As of 2008, only 16 states recognized common law marriage. http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=4265

Marriage can also involve more than just two people. In this instance, a marriage can be polygamous or polyandrous which means that either a man has multiple wives, or woman has multiple husbands, respectively. Polygamy and polyandry may result from religious or social norms, and the opposite of both is monogamy. In monogamy, the "one man, one woman" model is advocated by Christianity.http://www.patriarchywebsite.com/monogamy/mono-history.htm