Abstract
The concept of marriage is of central importance in many disciplines within the social sciences. Feminist concern with the family as a major site of women’s oppression has targeted marriage as a crucial ideological and material institution (Smart, 1984, p. 144). Nuptiality has been the subject of much recent literature concerning the social history of the family, particularly within the demographic approach (Anderson, 1980, p. 18). In legal studies generally, and family law particularly, entry into marriage is seen naturally as immediately triggering rights and obligations between the parties themselves and also between them and third parties, such as children or the State. Yet despite its centrality to so much scholarship, marriage itself is infrequently problematised.
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© 1990 Stephen Parker
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Parker, S. (1990). Introduction. In: Informal Marriage, Cohabitation and the Law 1750–1989. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09834-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09834-7_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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