Family,kin, and the quest for community: A study of three social networks in early-modern Italy

The article probes seventeenth-century occupational and marriage data from three parishes in the Savoyard domains for isomorphisms with processes of collective mobilization. Analyzed as directed graphs, networks of marriage alliance display widely differing patterns in standard graph measurements and Regular Equivalence blockmodelling across the three parishes. Channeling flows of material and symbolic exchange conducive to different forms of political action, these network variations are in turn the outcome of unbalanced access by local kin groupings to vital resources.     

Marriage patterns in 19th-century Vila do Conde: The study of an urban centre in northwest Portugal

This article investigates marital patterns in the urban town of Vila do Conde, northwest Portugal, during the 19th century. The analysis, which is based on the application of the family reconstitution method, reveals differences in marital patterns between rural and urban settlements. It was observed that Vila do Conde displayed different patterns of marriage than those that have often been described for the northwestern region of Portugal, with an emphasis on lower levels of celibacy, as well as lower fertility rates. It was discovered that migration played a very important role in these dynamics. It is a fact that the increasing outflow of male emigrants had a distortion effect on the marriage market. Nevertheless, the influx of in-migrants to the town contributed to alleviate the adult male shortage and resulting gender imbalance, generating lower proportions of celibacy and higher levels of total fertility. Although several important publications have already identified demographic trends in many parishes of the region in focus, few have been concerned with urban parishes. This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the population dynamics of urban centres in northwest Portugal when set within the context of a number of the structural changes specific to that region and Portugal as a whole in the 19th century.     

Marriage patterns in 19th-century Vila do Conde: The study of an urban centre in northwest Portugal

This article investigates marital patterns in the urban town of Vila do Conde, northwest Portugal, during the 19th century. The analysis, which is based on the application of the family reconstitution method, reveals differences in marital patterns between rural and urban settlements. It was observed that Vila do Conde displayed different patterns of marriage than those that have often been described for the northwestern region of Portugal, with an emphasis on lower levels of celibacy, as well as lower fertility rates. It was discovered that migration played a very important role in these dynamics. It is a fact that the increasing outflow of male emigrants had a distortion effect on the marriage market. Nevertheless, the influx of in-migrants to the town contributed to alleviate the adult male shortage and resulting gender imbalance, generating lower proportions of celibacy and higher levels of total fertility. Although several important publications have already identified demographic trends in many parishes of the region in focus, few have been concerned with urban parishes. This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the population dynamics of urban centres in northwest Portugal when set within the context of a number of the structural changes specific to that region and Portugal as a whole in the 19th century.     

Highlights from a low-level area: infant mortality and social structure in eight East Frisian parishes, 1740–1839

Considerable variations in infant mortality rates have occurred within the low-lying region of northern Germany's East Frisia. Individual parishes can be assigned to three specific groups by registered mortality levels for the period 1740–1839. Differences also existed between parishes containing Geest (heathland), bogs, and marshland reflecting specific geographical and environment factors, as well as the structure of the local economy. In both Geest and bog parishes, the level of infant mortality and its trend over time were not homogeneous. In the two marshy river parishes, only environmental factors were significant; both registered the lowest rates of infant mortality. They had fertile soil, extensive grazing land, an exceptionally high number of large agricultural holdings, and households that were above average in size. By contrast, the highest rates of infant mortality were found in one bog and two Geest parishes, but these communities remained heterogeneous in terms of geographical size and population growth and density.     

Highlights from a low-level area: infant mortality and social structure in eight East Frisian parishes, 1740–1839

Considerable variations in infant mortality rates have occurred within the low-lying region of northern Germany's East Frisia. Individual parishes can be assigned to three specific groups by registered mortality levels for the period 1740–1839. Differences also existed between parishes containing Geest (heathland), bogs, and marshland reflecting specific geographical and environment factors, as well as the structure of the local economy. In both Geest and bog parishes, the level of infant mortality and its trend over time were not homogeneous. In the two marshy river parishes, only environmental factors were significant; both registered the lowest rates of infant mortality. They had fertile soil, extensive grazing land, an exceptionally high number of large agricultural holdings, and households that were above average in size. By contrast, the highest rates of infant mortality were found in one bog and two Geest parishes, but these communities remained heterogeneous in terms of geographical size and population growth and density.     

Natural population movement and marriage restrictions and hindrances in Styria in the 17th to 19th centuries

To marry has never been an egalitarian option or everybody's wish. There have always been calculations or considerations, structural or individual hindrances and even societal restrictions for individuals to get married despite wishing to do so. Without any doubt and apart from the debate on determination or love and free choice in former times, to marry has always been a societal event, a mutual relationship between personal wishes and societal environmental expectations.And apart from all the debates on paradoxes in modernization processes, it is clear that in pre-modern times societal marriage restrictions were widespread.It is very unlikely that people should have been forbidden to marry because they should not have sexual contacts, just for morality reasons. The keys have been considerations and calculations on reproductivity, economic and social resources, social and human capital. This paper deals with aggregated vital data from four parishes in Styria, Austria, covering the outgoing 17th century until the end of the 19th century, in order to detect hints of marriage restrictions.The paper proves the well-known variety of marriage systems in pre-industrial and pre-modern times. It supports the idea that the presence of marriage restrictions hindered population growth, but the absence of such restrictions did not automatically foster more societal transparency and developmental chances in a modern sense, as mortality and inequality were very strong factors in pre-modern agrarian societies. In the end, the question of marriage restrictions was apparently posed and answered by privileged groups.     

Natural population movement and marriage restrictions and hindrances in Styria in the 17th to 19th centuries

To marry has never been an egalitarian option or everybody's wish. There have always been calculations or considerations, structural or individual hindrances and even societal restrictions for individuals to get married despite wishing to do so. Without any doubt and apart from the debate on determination or love and free choice in former times, to marry has always been a societal event, a mutual relationship between personal wishes and societal environmental expectations.

And apart from all the debates on paradoxes in modernization processes, it is clear that in pre-modern times societal marriage restrictions were widespread.

It is very unlikely that people should have been forbidden to marry because they should not have sexual contacts, just for morality reasons. The keys have been considerations and calculations on reproductivity, economic and social resources, social and human capital. This paper deals with aggregated vital data from four parishes in Styria, Austria, covering the outgoing 17th century until the end of the 19th century, in order to detect hints of marriage restrictions.

The paper proves the well-known variety of marriage systems in pre-industrial and pre-modern times. It supports the idea that the presence of marriage restrictions hindered population growth, but the absence of such restrictions did not automatically foster more societal transparency and developmental chances in a modern sense, as mortality and inequality were very strong factors in pre-modern agrarian societies. In the end, the question of marriage restrictions was apparently posed and answered by privileged groups.     

THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE AND CRIME: GENDER,THE PROPENSITY TO MARRY,AND OFFENDING IN EARLY ADULTHOOD*

Marriage is central to theoretical debates over stability and change in criminal offending over the life course. Yet, unlike other social ties such as employment, marriage is distinct in that it cannot be randomly assigned in survey research to more definitively assess causal effects of marriage on offending. As a result, key questions remain as to whether different individual propensities toward marriage shape its salience as a deterrent institution. Building on these issues, the current research has three objectives. First, we use a propensity score matching approach to estimate causal effects of marriage on crime in early adulthood. Second, we assess sex differences in the effects of marriage on offending. Although both marriage and offending are highly gendered phenomena, prior work typically focuses on males. Third, we examine whether one's propensity to marry conditions the deterrent capacity of marriage. Results show that marriage suppresses offending for males, even when accounting for their likelihood to marry. Furthermore, males who are least likely to marry seem to benefit most from this institution. The influence of marriage on crime is less robust for females, where marriage reduces crime only for those with moderate propensities to marry. We discuss these findings in the context of recent debates concerning gender, criminal offending, and the life course.     

Child Brides, Inegalitarianism, and the Fundamentalist Polygamous Family in the United States

Despite the ongoing shift in contemporary notions of what orwho constitutes a family, the idea of the polygamous familyremains on the margins of what is deemed a legitimate maritaland familial structure in liberal democratic societies suchas the US. Nevertheless, despite the illegality of polygamyand the social stigma attacted to it, thousands of Mormon Fundamentalistpolygamists live and practice in the US. This article assessesthe arguments in favor of and against the legalization and,consequently, the legitimatization of polygamous marriage. Itexplores three grounds polygamists have employed or could employto advocate legalization of the practice of plural marriage:freedom of religion, sexual privacy (as defined by the recentcase of Lawrence v. Texas), and contractualism. However, theauthor concludes that the impact of the Fundamentalist polygamouslifestyle on the autonomy, integrity, and equality of adultwomen and children is sufficiently troubling that lifting thesanction on plural marriage may run counter to basic considerationsof justice.     

假结婚、假离婚与错结婚的认定和处理

婚姻法只规定了四种法定无效情形和一种可撤销婚姻。对于假结婚、假离婚与错结婚争睛形如何认定和处理，没有法律规定，实践中往往适用民法总则无效民事效力行为的规定，将其认定为无效婚姻。这是错误的，婚姻有效与无效有其独立的评判规则，不能适用适用民法总则。因而，假结婚、假离婚与错结婚一般不能认定其行为无效。     

从经济学视角看中国的婚姻法改革

从经济学的一些基本概念出发,本文讨论了中国婚姻法改革的一系列问题,并通过三种婚姻形式的提出和分析,对离婚后当事人扶养安排、财产分割和子女监护权问题作了充分的讨论。从有效信号功能和有效分离功能的角度看,现代西方和中国婚姻法的改革都犯了有效分离功能不足的错误。经济帮助的方法由于缺乏合理的公共政策原理而应该在婚姻法中被删掉,婚姻合同中可能出现的机会主义行为问题则可以通过婚姻法或一般合同法进行处理。如此的改革将使中国的婚姻法内涵更加合理,也更加适合婚姻市场的现实。     

日本内缘婚制度研究

日本内缘婚又被称为事实婚姻,产生于19世纪后期日本民法典颁布之后,并随着日本社会的发展而处于不断的演变之中。从内缘保护的法的形成、内缘关系成立的要件及内缘婚的法律效果三个方面来看,中日两国的事实婚姻制度既具有相同之处,也有不同的地方。     

回避婚约:新中国婚姻立法的历史选择及其因由

法律规定婚约,是现代世界立法的主流或一般情形,也是我国前现代的立法传统,但新中国婚姻立法回避了婚约.这一回避婚约的立法模式源自20世纪30年代苏维埃时期的婚姻立法,奠定于新中国成立前夕废除国民党《六法全书》的法制革新,正式形成于1950年新中国第一部婚姻法.基于"征文考献"来看,新中国婚姻立法回避婚约的因由可能主要在三...     

Reproducing a Fit Citizenry: Dependency, Eugenics, and the Law of Marriage in the United States, 1860-1920

Between the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, American state legislatures enacted a series of new laws that delineated a class of citizens who were deemed ineligible to participate in the institution of marriage. Scholars have characterized this development as evidence that lawmakers had lost faith in a laissez-faire approach to nuptial governance, and thus transformed marriage into an object of public regulation. This essay argues that behind the ostensible nuptial privatism of the mid-nineteenth century lay a self-conscious policy of judicial governance. Judges invoked the language of nuptial privacy and the common law of contract strategically to advance their vision of moral and economic discipline. The new marital prohibitions thus represented, the essay argues, not the expansion of the state's police power into the previously private realm of domestic relations, but rather a critical transformation in how nuptial reformers and lawmakers understood the relationship between marriage and the well-being of the polity.
Fueled by growing concerns about pauperism, the racial character of the urban proletariat, and the collapse of the economically independent single-male-breadwinner household, the changing form of nuptial governance signaled a thoroughgoing intellectual and strategic reorientation from an understanding of marriage as forming economically and morally viable households – the fundamental units of society – to an understanding of marriage as a largely procreative institution, as the literal source of the citizenry. This reconceptualization of marriage underwrote a strategy of nuptial governance that mobilized marriage as a strategy in the state's regulation of social reproduction.     

Political Liberalism, Marriage and the Family

Can and should political liberals recognize and otherwise support legal marriage as a matter of basic justice? In this article, we offer a general account of how political liberals should evaluate the issue of whether the legal recognition of marriage is a matter of basic justice. And, we develop and examine some public reason arguments that, given the fundamental interests of citizens, could justify various forms of legal marriage in some contexts. In particular, in certain conditions, the recognition of some form of legal marriage may be the best way to protect the fundamental interests of women as citizens in freely chosen associations. Or, it may be that, in certain conditions, to secure the social conditions necessary for gays, lesbians and bisexuals to be free and equal citizens, some form of legal marriage can or should be recognized.     

Marriage change in rural India, 1921-1981.

"In the early twentieth century, marriage age of both sexes in India was unusually low, even by the standards of other Asian societies of the era. Although early marriage in the form of child marriage occurred throughout the Indian subcontinent, there were regional differences in the extent of the practice. The article examines influences on the marriage market from the early through the late twentieth century and the changes that have occurred within that time frame. Early on, the peasant marriage regime was regulated more by social and demographic factors, while subsequent changes reflected the growing importance of economics and considerable regional diversity."     

Sex, Property Rights, and Divorce

This paper examines how differences in sex drives between husbands and wives affect bargaining strengths during marriage and particularly at times when divorce might occur. The basic argument follows from the fact that sex drives vary over an individual's life cycle, and are systematically different for men and women. The spouse having the lowest sex drive at any time in the marriage has a property right over whether or not sexual intercourse will occur, with a consequent increase in bargaining power at the margin. The paper derives a number of testable implications from its model, and, using several data sources, shows empirically how this difference affects marriage, adultery and divorce.     

Social disorganization, marriage, and reported crime: A spatial econometrics examination of family formation and criminal offending

It has long been documented that “marriage matters” for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, there has been considerable debate over the causal relationship between marriage and a number of its associated correlates, most often related to social processes of health behaviors, criminal involvement, and achievement. While most research associated with marriage and crime is concerned with the individual, little is understood concerning the ecological effect of marriage rates. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the F.B.I.'s Uniform Crime Reporting Program (UCR), this study tests such relationships through the implementation of spatially-centered analytic approaches concerning the potential independent effects of marriage rates within a social disorganization context. It is important to understand such aggregate level effects in the face of the existing literature, which relies heavily on relational associations and is subject to ecological fallacy. Analytic techniques incorporate Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) and spatial regression.     

Choice, Culture and the Politics of Belonging: The Emerging Law of Forced and Arranged Marriage

The article discusses recent legal and policy initiatives aimed at preventing forced marriage, placing them in the broader context of the exclusionary governance of British Muslim cultural difference. It argues that forced marriage is understood almost entirely as a product of cultural difference. Thus, attempts to prevent forced marriage focus on the control of cultural pressures at the point of marriage. This near-exclusive focus on culture has two consequences for women. First, inadequate attention is paid to the social and economic problems which intersect with and aggravate cultural factors restricting women's marital choice. Second, this problematisation of culture has generated paternalistic legislation with the consequence that young women who wish to follow cultural practice and fully consent to an arranged marriage may be prevented from marrying as they choose.     

Marriage,Cohabitation, and Crime: Differentiating Associations by Partnership Stage

A wealth of scholarship generally finds that marriage protects against crime, but there is less consistent evidence for cohabitation. In this article, we contribute to scholarship on marriage and put forward new evidence about cohabitation by examining marital and cohabiting partnerships as transitions with distinct stages of entry, stability, and dissolution. We use within-person change models with contemporary data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to analyze these stages for the full sample and separately for men and women. The findings show differential protective associations of marriage and cohabitation depending on the stage of the partnership. Both recently formed cohabiting partnerships and stable cohabiting partnerships are associated with reductions in the level of offending, although to a lesser degree than marital relationships. Cohabiting partnerships that are stable, in that they have lasted at least a year, are associated with larger decreases in offending, particularly among women.