MARRIAGE INTRO

Question 1

In 2011 what % off adult population were married according to ONS?

Answer 1

48%

Question 2

What % of adult population is estimated to be married in 2033?

Answer 2

42%

Question 3

What percentage of men and women born in 1930 were married by 40??

Answer 3

M: 90%
W:94%

Question 4

What % off men and women born in 1970 were married by the age of 40?

Answer 4

M: 63%
W: 71%

Question 5

What % of marriages were not first marriages in 2014?

Answer 5

33%

Question 6

Why is 33% (2014) of marriages being second plus marriages significant?

Answer 6

It suggests that people who remarry do it continuously and it is these people who are keeping marriage rates up artificially

Question 7

In 2014 what % of marriages weren’t religious ceremonies?

Answer 7

70%

Question 8

Why is 70% of marriages being non-religious significant?

Answer 8

Suggests that marriage as a religious ceremony is no longer the view of the majority - a cultural shift

Question 9

What are the 4 main perspectives on the meaning of. Marriage?

Answer 9

1) Functional
2) Psychological
3) Political
4) Religious

Question 10

What is the functionalist definition of marriage?

Answer 10

Tries to give marriage a purpose, which is often taken too be having children
-> Same number of children born to unmarried people

Question 11

What was HOGGETT et al’s view on a functionalist marriage?

Answer 11

If nothing else, then marriage is about the license to beget children

Question 12

How did ENGELS approach functionalist marriage?

Answer 12

He viewed marriage/family as essential to the regulation of private property and the creation of legitimate heirs

Question 13

What’s is the PSYCHOLOGICAL approach to defining marriage?

Answer 13

Idea that people have an inherent need to marry for stability and social interaction

Question 14

What does GIDDENS say in view o psychological marriage definition?

Answer 14

Modern intimate relationships are only sustained for as long as each individual can benefit from the other, no longer necessarily a lifelong bond

Question 15

What is the POLITICAL approach to the definition of marriage?

Answer 15

That marriage plays a role in the regulation of wider society
Some argue that subjugation of women is at the heart of marriage

Question 16

What does LENARD say on how marriage is related to subjugation of women?

Answer 16

That it is a public form of labour relationships, where a woman pledges her body etc in exchange for protection and security from a man

Question 17

Who strongly rejected LENARD’s view on marriage as being oppressive?

Answer 17

BARONESS HALE

Question 18

What was HALE’s reason for rejecting marriage as a social construct to make women submissive?

Answer 18

A desire to reject legal patriarchy is no longer a rational reason to reject marriage
-> Idea that society has moved on so this is no longer relevant

Question 19

What is a RELIGIOUS approach to the definition of marriage?

Answer 19

Obviously depends on religion

Tends to b a spiritual union that reflects gods love, sometimes viewed as indissoluble

Question 20

In which case did MUNBY J highlight the legal position on marriage?

Answer 20

SHEFFIELD C C v E & S 2004

Question 21

What did MUNBY J say in Sheffield CC v E & S 2004?

Answer 21

As a secular judge my concern is with marriage as a civil contract, not a religious ow

Question 22

Why was MUNBY Js seemingly obvious statement important?

Answer 22

It showed that Christianity had such a sway over legal conceptions in the past that he felt it necessary to point out the now secular nature of the law

Question 23

What is the legal definition of marriage?

Answer 23

No real definition in statute, but has been defined through case law

Question 24

2 out important cases on the definition of marriage?

Answer 24

HYDE v HYDE 1866

BELLINGER v BELLINGER 2001

Question 25

Definition of marriage in HYDE 1866?

Answer 25

‘Voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others’

Question 26

Definition of marriage of THORPE LJ in BELLINGER 2001?

Answer 26

‘A contract for which the parties elect but is regulated by the state, both in it’s formation and it’s termination by divorce, because it affects a status on which depend a variety of entitlements, benefits and obligations’

Question 27

What is notable at THORPE’s 2001 judgement?

Answer 27

No mention of the need for the couple to be heterosexual

Bare in mind LORD MILLET denying this as late as 2004

Question 28

What year was the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act?

Answer 28

2014

Question 29

Case that showed law does not require a reason for getting married/

Answer 29

R v REGISTRAR GENERAL OF BIRTHS, DEATHS andMARRIAGES 2003

Question 30

R V REGISTRAR GENERAL FOR BIRTHS, DEATHS AAND MARRIAGES 2003

Answer 30

• CPS sought a court order to prevent marriage between man charged with murder and woman who was supposed to be the main witness for the prosecution
• Claimed marriage was only to prevent her being a compellable witness
• CoA refused to grant an order as a reason for getting married is not the courts concern

Question 31

If the law won’t really define what marriage is, then what is the point in it?

Answer 31

To give parameters for the marriage to develop as the couple want it to, and to regulate formation/breakdown