Other Free Encyclopedias » Marriage and Family Encyclopedia » Relationships » Definition of Marriage - Why People Get Married, Rules And Regulations, Types Of Marriage, Conclusion Definition of Marriage - Types Of Marriage ages/1122/Marriage-Definition-Types-Marriage.html&layout=button_count&s family history mormon marriages married recognized law To this point, the institution of marriage has been discussed as if all marriages were the same—a living arrangement legally contracted by or limited insofar as it describes monogamous marriage. There are other types of marriage, which include more than one husband or wife at the same time (plural marriage or polygamy), several husbands and wives (group marriage), or ones that are not contracted on the basis of the state's rules and regulations specified earlier (common-law marriage). Monogamy is the only legal type of marriage permitted in the United 1992). While those who practice group marriage and those in homosexual preferred form of marriage throughout most of the world. Seventy-five percent of the world's societies prefer this type of marriage (Saxton practice, because the number of men and women of marriageable age in Very few societies have polyandrous marriages. Polyandry refers to one wife having several husbands at the same time. Such marriages occur Group marriage (when men and women living together consider themselves well. However, in no society is this type of marriage the primary form of marriage. It was practiced by members of the Oneida Company in the marriages in the early 1970s showed that such arrangements do not last long: only 7 percent of the "multilateral marriages" studied lasted In the United States, common-law marriage is recognized in fifteen formal requirements governing marriage in their state (Knox and Schacht 1991). This practice stems from the tradition that marriage contracted source of much of U.S. law and custom), marriage needed neither civil powerful during the Middle Ages and assumed control over marriage marriages were not recognized as valid by the church (Saxton 1993). In the United States, marriage became regulated by civil laws in the marriages were valid so long as they were not expressly forbidden by all societies, a marriage is generally not recognized as such unless the couple is deemed married by the community. However, once a marriage (e.g., a common-law marriage officially recognized by Texas must be common-law marriages). function without marriage. These include communes, religious orders, living without marriage. Although the group has lasted since the late the 1960s either folded or instituted monogamous marriage. The two types of social groups that have survived without marriage are Definition of Marriage - Conclusion [next] [back] Definition of Marriage - Rules And Regulations