MARRIAGE INSTITUTION

MARRIAGE
• It is an institution that is universally found in
almost all societies.
• It is the socially approved sexual and
economic union between two persons of the
opposite sex.
• It is a contract or ceremony that legitimizes
sexual intercourse and childbearing.
 4 CHARACTERISTICS OF
MARRIAGE
• It is a contract between groups of people that goes
beyond the death of one of the contracting parties.
• It involves the transfer of rights between the
wife’s group and the husband’s group.
• It entails rights to priority of sexual access by the
husband. (This doesn’t apply in societies that
allow wife lending, sanctioned love affairs and
alternate partners)
• It can be monogamous or polygamous.
UNIVERSALITY OF MARRIAGE
Marriage is an universal institution because
societies have to provide sexual division of
labor, minimize sexual competition and
guarantee the caring for infants.
FUNCTIONS OF MARRIAGE FOR
THE SOCIETY
1. It develops social bonds that provide material
needs, social support, and socialization of
children.
2. It defines the rights and obligations of the
members of the contracting parties.
3. It creates new relationships between families
and kin groups that can establish trade
relationship and political alliances.
 NORMS FOR MARRIAGE
1. Mate Selection
2. Secondary Marriage
3. Number of Spouses
4. Marital Exchanges
 MATE SELECTION
• In the selection of mates, society specifies to
the persons whom they can marry and whom
they can not marry.
• 2 NORMS:
– EXOGAMY
– ENDOGAMY
 MATE SELECTION
• 2 NORMS:
– EXOGAMY
• It requires a person to select his/her mate outside his/her
own group or social category.
• It is a practice that is commonly done in agricultural
societies.
– ENDOGAMY
• It is a rule that requires a person to select his/her mate
from his/her own group or social category.
• It prohibits and punishes the person who defy this.
 MATE SELECTION
• INCEST TABOO
– It is a universal prohibition against marriage within the
nuclear members of the family or kin members.
WHY IS IT PROHIBITED?
• It is disruptive to the family structure.
• It is genetically harmful to the gene pool.
• It is economically unproductive.
• It is politically unproductive.
• It is demographically unproductive.
 SECONDARY MARRIAGE
• RULES:
1. SORORATE – It is the practice that compels the
woman to marry the deceased sister’s husband.
2. LEVIRATE – It is the practice among the Chuckee
of Siberia that requires a man to marry the widow of
the deceased brother and care for his children and
herds.

These rules guarantee the widow or widower of

a mate who will give care and protection to the
children and property of the deceased spouse.
 NUMBER OF SPOUSES
1. MONOGAMY
– It is the rule that limits the person to one spouse
at a given time.
– It applies to societies that have equal sex ratios
and high levels of economic development.
2. POLYGAMY
– It is the plural marriage of a man or woman.
– It applies to societies that have uneven sex ratios,
low levels of economic development and limited
resources.
 2 TYPES OF POLYGAMY
1. POLYGYNY
– It is the plural marriage of a man to several women.
– It is a sign of a man’s high status.
– Rich men, who can afford to support several wives
simultaneously, are the ones allowed to have several
wives.
2. POLYANDRY
– It is the plural marriage of a woman to several men.
– The woman can be married to a group of brothers
(FRATERNAL POLYANDRY)
– The woman can be married to a group of men who are not
related to one another (NON-FRATERNAL
POLYANDRY)
 MARITAL EXCHANGES
• These are the functions of gender stratification
and economy of the society.

1. Brides Wealth
2. Bride Service
3. Dowry
 BRIDE WEALTH
• It is the wealth given by the groom to his
bride’s family to legitimize his right to his wife
child.
• It includes: land, house, and expensive gifts.
• It compensates the family of the bride for the
loss of the bride’s labor and companionship,
and an insurance against divorce.
• It is also a way of creating and maintaining
group alliance.
 BRIDE WEALTH
• A man who does not provide bride wealth
loses his right over his own child even if he is
the biological father, instead, the right over the
child will be given to another man who is
willing to pay the bride wealth.
 BRIDE SERVICE
• It is the practice of requiring a man to provide
labor to the household of his bride, to work for
his father-in-law for a certain period of time,
wither before or after marriage.
• It is a form of bride price paid in labor or
compensation to the bride’s family for the loss
of the bride’s service in her family household.
 DOWRY
• It is the wealth given by the parents of the bride to the
husband of their daughter.
• It includes: Money, clothing, jewelry, or any household
items.
• It is a payoff to the bride’s right to their estate,
mechanism for political alliance and insurance that the
bride will be treated well in the household of the
husband.
• It is practiced in societies where women contribute little
to the social stratification and where men re not
allowed to marry more than one woman
simultaneously.
 PHILIPPINE MARRIAGE
CHARACTERISTICS:
• INDIVIDUAL FREE CHOICE
• MATURITY
• PERMANENCE
• HETEROSEXUALITY
• EQUALITY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND
WIFE
• FIDELITY
• MONOGAMY/ POLYGAMY
 INDIVIDUAL FREE CHOICE
• In the past, the parents selected the mates of
their children.
• But today, the person makes his choice if his
age is above 21 years of age.
• Below the age of 21 years of age, gives the
parent the right to influence the children in the
selection of a mate in the form of parental
consent (18 years of a age) or advice (for 21
years of age)
 MATURITY
• The contracting couple should have a
minimum age of 18 to maturity for the
Christians.
• Among the Muslims, the age of maturity is not
necessary; It allows marriage at 15 years old
for the male and 12-15 years old for the
female.
 PERMANENCE
• Marriage in the PH guarantees a lifetime
relationship between husband and wife.
• It can only be dissolved upon death or
annulment.

ANNULMENT of MARRIAGE
• The marriage is null and void at the time of
marriage.
 MARRIAGE CAN BE NULLIFIED
IF:
• The contracting parties are below the age of 18 years of
age, even with the consent of parents and guardians.
• The person solemnizing the marriage lacks the legal
authority.
• Solemnized without marriage license unless under
exemption.
• It is a bigamous marriage or polygamous marriage.
• A mistake is committed by a contracting party as to the
identity of the other.
• The marriage is against public policy.
 MARRIAGE CAN BE NULLIFIED
IF:
• The person/s are psychologically incapacitated to contract.
• Security after a judgment of annulment or absolute nullity
of marriage by the parties before entering into subsequent
marriage.
• Failed to record with the appropriate registry the partition
and distribution of property of the first marriage.
• One of the parties are impotent.
• Either party was infected with a physically transmissible
disease at the time of marriage.
• Force or intimidation or undue influence is used to contract
such marriage.
• Fraud is committed.
 MARRIAGE CAN BE NULLIFIED
IF:
• Fraud is committed when:
– Non-disclosure of previous conviction of moral
turpitude.
– Pregnancy of the wife other than the husband.
– Concealment of sexually transmitted disease and
drug addiction.
– Habitual alcoholism
– Homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time
of marriage.
 LEGAL SEPARATION
• It is an arrangement by ,which a couple remain
married but live apart, following a court order.

The Family Code of 1988 allows the filing of

legal separation on any of the ff:
1. Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive
contact directed against the petitioner, a
common child or the child of the petitioner.
 LEGAL SEPARATION
2. Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the
petitioner to change religious or political affiliation
3. Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the
petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner,
to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such
corruption or inducement
4. Final judgment sentencing the respondent to
imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned
5. Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the
respondent
 LEGAL SEPARATION
6. Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent
7. Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent
bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines
or abroad
8. Sexual infidelity or perversion
9. Attempt by the respondent against the life of the
petitioner
10. Abandonment of petitioner by respondent
without justifiable cause for more than one year.
 HETEROSEXUALITY
• The PH Laws allows marriage between a man
and a woman only and consider homosexuality
not allowable; it can be a ground of legal
separation.
 EQUALITY
• Equal rights and obligations to both the
husband and the wife
 FIDELITY
• When one of the couple co-habits with a
person who is not the legitimate spouse, it can
be a ground for concubinage or adultery or
punishable with six years of imprisonment.
 CONCUBINAGE
1. The husband keeps a mistress in the conjugal
dwelling.
2. The husband cohabits with a woman not his
wife in any place.
3. The husband leaves the conjugal dwelling and
lives with his lover in another dwelling.
4. The husband has sexual intercourse under
scandalous circumstances with a woman not
his wife.