Zhety-ata  ( Kazakh :  Жеті ата, "seven grandfathers/ancestors" ) is a tradition among the  Kazakh people , in which one is obligated to know or recite the names of at least seven direct blood ancestors such as father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great-grandfather etc. [ 1 ]  This process often has been taught for generations from childhood by parents.


The main reason for knowing their seven ancestors is that among Kazakhs, marriage within seven generations is prohibited, so for a marriage to be licit, the ancestors of the male and female sides must be above the seven ancestors on both father and mother lineages. The second reason is that this tradition is regarded as a helpful means to know and remember the historical background of each Kazakh and their tribes in the past. This is often called Shezhire by Kazakhs, and through this system, most of the Kazakhs know their origin and their relations with other tribes within the clan-tribal system of Kazakhs. Each set of seven generations is considered a minimum unit clan in Kazakhs, but usually, Kazakhs marry above ten ancestors. In the oral folklore of Kazakhs, it is said that the newborn child will be wise, healthy mentally, and physically strong under the "Jety-Ata" rule.


The "Jety-Ata" rule probably became entrenched after the  Kazakh Khanate  with the suggestions of Kazakh  medical scientist   Oteyboydak Tleukabyl uly  (1388-1478) to the  Khan of Kazakhs . Before the Kazakh Khanate, it was common among the per-tribes of the Kazakhs.  [ original research? ]


The naming method is as follows which starts from the grandson and then descends to the further generations: [ 2 ]


Kin recognition , also called  kin detection , is an organism's ability to distinguish between close genetic kin and non-kin. In  evolutionary biology  and  psychology , such an ability is presumed to have evolved for  inbreeding avoidance , [ 1 ]  though animals do not typically avoid inbreeding. [ 2 ]


An additional  adaptive function  sometimes posited for kin recognition is a role in  kin selection . There is debate over this, since in strict theoretical terms kin recognition is not necessary for kin selection or the cooperation associated with it. Rather,  social behaviour  can emerge by kin selection in the demographic conditions of 'viscous populations' with organisms interacting in their natal context, without active kin discrimination, since social participants by default typically share recent common origin. Since kin selection theory emerged, much research has been produced investigating the possible role of kin recognition mechanisms in mediating altruism. Taken as a whole, this research suggests that active powers of recognition play a negligible role in mediating social cooperation relative to less elaborate cue-based and context-based mechanisms, such as familiarity,  imprinting  and phenotype matching.


Because cue-based 'recognition' predominates in social mammals, outcomes are non-deterministic in relation to actual genetic kinship, instead outcomes simply reliably correlate with genetic kinship in an organism's typical conditions. A well-known human example of an inbreeding avoidance mechanism is the  Westermarck effect , in which unrelated individuals who happen to spend their childhood in the same household find each other sexually unattractive. Similarly, due to the cue-based mechanisms that mediate social bonding and cooperation, unrelated individuals who grow up together in this way are also likely to demonstrate strong  social and emotional ties, and enduring altruism .


The English evolutionary biologist  W. D. Hamilton 's theory of  inclusive fitness , and the related theory of  kin selection , were formalized in the 1960s and 1970s to explain the evolution of social behaviours. Hamilton's early papers, as well as giving a mathematical account of the selection pressure, discussed possible implications and behavioural manifestations. Hamilton considered potential roles of cue-based mechanisms mediating altruism versus 'positive powers' of kin discrimination:


The selective advantage which makes behaviour conditional in the right sense on the discrimination of factors which correlate with the relationship of the individual concerned is therefore obvious. It may be, for instance, that in respect of a certain social action performed towards neighbours indiscriminately, an individual is only just breaking even in terms of inclusive fitness. If he could learn to recognise those of his neighbours who really were close relatives and could devote his beneficial actions to them alone an advantage to inclusive fitness would at once appear. Thus, a mutation causing such discriminatory behaviour itself benefits inclusive fitness and would be selected. In fact, the individual may not need to perform any discrimination so sophisticated as we suggest here; a difference in the generosity of his behaviour according to whether the situations evoking it were encountered near to, or far from, his own home might occasion an advantage of a similar kind." (1996 [1964], 51) [ 3 ]


These two possibilities,  altruism  mediated via 'passive situation' or via 'sophisticated discrimination', stimulated a generation of researchers to look for evidence of any 'sophisticated' kin discrimination. However, Hamilton later (1987) developed his thinking to consider that "an innate kin recognition adaptation" was unlikely to play a role in mediating altruistic behaviours:


But once again, we do not expect anything describable as an innate kin recognition adaptation, used for social behaviour other than mating, for the reasons already given in the hypothetical case of the trees.(Hamilton 1987, 425) [ 4 ]


The implication that the  inclusive fitness  criterion can be met by mediating mechanisms of cooperative behaviour that are context and location-based has been clarified by recent work by West  et al. :


In his original papers on inclusive fitness theory, Hamilton pointed out a sufficiently high relatedness to favour altruistic behaviours could accrue in two ways—kin discrimination or limited dispersal (Hamilton, 1964, 1971, 1972, 1975). There is a huge theoretical literature on the possible role of limited dispersal reviewed by Platt & Bever (2009) and West et al. (2002a), as well as experimental evolution tests of these models (Diggle et al., 2007; Griffin et al., 2004; Kümmerli et al., 2009 ). However, despite this, it is still sometimes claimed that kin selection requires kin discrimination (Oates & Wilson, 2001; Silk, 2002 ). Furthermore, a large number of authors appear to have implicitly or explicitly assumed that kin discrimination is the only mechanism by which altruistic behaviours can be directed towards relatives... [T]here is a huge industry of papers reinventing limited dispersal as an explanation for cooperation. The mistakes in these areas seem to stem from the incorrect assumption that kin selection or indirect fitness benefits require kin discrimination (misconception 5), despite the fact that Hamilton pointed out the potential role of limited dispersal in his earliest papers on inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton, 1964; Hamilton, 1971; Hamilton, 1972; Hamilton, 1975). (West et al. 2010, p. 243 and supplement) [ 5 ]


For a recent review of the debates around kin recognition and their role in the wider debates about how to interpret  inclusive fitness  theory, including its compatibility with ethnographic data on human kinship, see Holland (2012). [ 6 ]


Leading  inclusive fitness  theorists such as  Alan Grafen  have argued that the whole research program around kin recognition is somewhat misguided:


Do animals really recognise kin in a way that is different from the way they recognise mates, neighbours, and other organisms and objects? Certainly animals use recognition systems to recognise their offspring, their siblings and their parents. But to the extent that they do so in the same way that they recognise their mates and their neighbours, I feel it is unhelpful to say they have a kin recognition system."
(Grafen 1991, 1095) [ 7 ]


Others have cast similar doubts over the enterprise:


[T]he fact that animals benefit from engaging in spatially mediated behaviors is not evidence that these animals can recognize their kin, nor does it support the conclusion that spatially based differential behaviors represent a kin recognition mechanism (see also discussions by Blaustein, 1983; Waldman, 1987; Halpin 1991). In other words, from an evolutionary perspective it may well be advantageous for kin to aggregate and for individuals to behave preferentially towards nearby kin, whether or not this behaviour is the result of kin recognition per se" (Tang-Martinez 2001, 25) [ 8 ]


Kin recognition is a behavioral adaptation noted in many species but proximate level mechanisms are not well documented. Recent studies have shown that kin recognition can result from a multitude of sensory input. Jill Mateo notes that there are three components prominent in kin recognition. First, "production of unique phenotypic cues or labels". Second, "perception of these labels and the degree of correspondence of these labels with a 'recognition template'", and finally the recognition of the phenotypes should lead to "action taken by the animal as a function of the perceived similarity between its template and an encountered phenotype". [ 9 ]


The three components allow for several possible mechanisms of kin recognition. Sensory information gathered from visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli are the most prevalent. The  Belding's ground squirrel  kin produce similar odors in comparison to non-kin. [ 10 ]  Mateo notes that the squirrels spent longer investigating non-kin scents suggesting recognition of kin odor. It's also noted that Belding's ground squirrels produce at least two scents arising from dorsal and oral secretions, giving two opportunities for kin recognition. In addition, the  Black Rock Skink  is also able to use olfactory stimuli as a mechanism of kin recognition.  Egernia saxatilis  have been found to discriminate kin from non-kin based on scent.  Egernia striolata  also use some form of scent, most likely through skin secretions. [ 11 ]  However, Black Rock Skinks discriminate based on familiarity rather than genotypic similarity. Juvenile  E. saxatilis  can recognize the difference between the scent of adults from their own family group and unrelated adults. Black Rock Skink recognize their family groups based on prior association and not how genetically related the other lizards are to themselves. [ 12 ]  Auditory distinctions have been noted among avian species.  Long-tailed tits  ( Aegithalos caudatus ) are capable of discriminating kin and non-kin based on contact calls. Distinguishing calls are often learned from adults during the nestling period. [ 13 ]  Studies suggest that the bald-faced hornet,  Dolichovespula maculata , can recognize nest mates by their cuticular hydrocarbon profile, which produces a distinct smell. [ 14 ]


Kin recognition in some species may also be mediated by immunogenetic similarity of the  major histocompatibility complex  (MHC). [ 15 ]  For a discussion of the interaction of these social and biological kin recognition factors see Lieberman, Tooby, and Cosmides (2007). [ 16 ]  Some have suggested that, as applied to humans, this nature-nurture interactionist perspective allows a synthesis [ 6 ]  between theories and evidence of social bonding and cooperation across the fields of evolutionary biology, psychology ( attachment theory ) and cultural anthropology ( nurture kinship ).


A study has shown that humans are about as genetically equivalent to their friends as they are their fourth cousins. [ 17 ]


Kin recognition is an adaptive behavior observed in living beings to prevent inbreeding, and increase fitness of populations, individuals and genes. Kin recognition is the key to successful  reciprocal altruism , a behavior that increases reproductive success of both organisms involved. Reciprocal altruism as a product of kin recognition has been observed and studied in many animals, and more recently,  plants . Due to the nature of plant reproduction and growth, plants are more likely than animals to live in close proximity to family members, and therefore stand to gain more from the ability to differentiate kin from strangers. [ 18 ]


In recent years, botanists have been conducting studies to determine which plant species can recognize kin, and discover the responses of plants to neighboring kin. Murphy and Dudley (2009) shows that  Impatiens pallida  has the ability to recognize individuals closely related to them and those not related to them. The physiological response to this recognition is increasingly interesting.  I. pallida  responds to kin by increasing branchiness and stem elongation, to prevent shading relatives, and responds to strangers by increasing leaf to root allocation, as a form of competition. [ 19 ]


Root allocation has been a very common trait shown through research in plants. Limited amounts of biomass can cause trade-offs among the construction of leaves, stems, and roots overall. But, in plants that recognize kin, the movement of resources in the plant has been shown to be affected by proximity to related individuals. [ 20 ]  It is well documented that roots can emit volatile compounds in the soil and that interactions also occur below-ground between plant roots and soil organisms. This has mainly focused on organisms in the kingdom Animalia, however.


Regarding this, root systems are known to exchange carbon and defense related molecular signals via connected mycorrhizal networks. For instance, it has been demonstrated that tobacco plants can detect the volatile chemical ethylene in order to form a “shade-avoidance phenotype.” [ 21 ]  Barley plants were also shown to allocate biomass to their roots when exposed to chemical signals from members of the same species, [ 21 ]  showing that, if they can recognize those signals for competition, recognition of kin in the plant could be likely via a similar chemical response.


Similarly, Bhatt et al. (2010) show that  Cakile edentula , the American sea rocket, has the ability to allocate more energy to root growth, and competition, in response to growing next to a stranger, and allocates less energy to root growth when planted next to a sibling. This reduces competition between siblings and increases fitness of relatives growing next to each other, while still allowing competition between non-relative plants. [ 22 ]


Little is known about the mechanisms involved in kin recognition. They most likely vary between species as well as within species. A study by Bierdrzycki et al. (2010) shows that root secretions are necessary for  Arabidopsis thaliana  to recognize kin vs. strangers, but not necessary to recognize self vs. non-self roots. This study was performed using secretion inhibitors, which disabled the mechanism responsible for kin recognition in this species, and showed similar growth patterns to Bhatt et al., (2010) and Murphy and Dudley (2009) in control groups. The most interesting result of this study was that inhibiting root secretions did not reduce the ability of  Arabidopsis  to recognize their own roots, which implicates a separate mechanism for self/non-self recognition than that for kin/stranger recognition. [ 23 ]


While this mechanism in the roots responds to exudates and involves competition over resources like nitrogen and phosphorus, another mechanism has been recently proposed, which involves competition over light, in which kin recognition takes place in leaves. In their 2014 study, Crepy and Casal conducted multiple experiments on different accessions of  A. thaliana . These experiments showed that  Arabidopsis  accessions have distinct R:FR and blue light signatures, and that these signatures can be detected by photoreceptors, which allows the plant to recognize its neighbor as a relative or non-relative. Not much is known about the pathway that  Arabidopsis  uses to associate these light patterns with kin, however, researchers ascertained that photoreceptors phyB, cry 1, cry 2, phot1, and phot2 are involved in the process by performing a series of experiments with knock-out mutants. Researchers also concluded that the auxin-synthesis gene TAA1 is involved in the process, downstream of the photoreceptors, by performing a similar experiments using Sav3 knock-out mutants. This mechanism leads to altered leaf direction to prevent shading of related neighbors and to reduce competition for sunlight. [ 24 ]


When mice inbreed with close relatives in their natural habitat, there is a significant detrimental effect on progeny survival. [ 25 ]  Since inbreeding can be detrimental, it tends to be avoided by many species. In the  house mouse , the  major urinary protein  (MUP) gene cluster provides a highly polymorphic scent signal of genetic identity that appears to underlie kin recognition and inbreeding avoidance.  Thus there are fewer matings between mice sharing MUP haplotypes than would be expected if there were random mating. [ 26 ]  Another mechanism for avoiding inbreeding is evident when a female house mouse mates with multiple males. In such a case, there appears to be egg-driven sperm selection against sperm from related males. [ 27 ]


In  toads , male advertisement vocalizations may serve as cues by which females recognize their kin and thus avoid inbreeding. [ 28 ]


In  dioecious  plants, the  stigma  may receive  pollen  from several different potential donors. As multiple  pollen tubes  from the different donors grow through the stigma to reach the  ovary , the receiving maternal plant may carry out pollen selection favoring pollen from less related donor plants. [ 29 ]  Thus, kin recognition at the level of the pollen tube apparently leads to post-pollination selection to avoid  inbreeding depression . Also, seeds may be aborted selectively depending on donor–recipient relatedness. [ 29 ]


In  anthropology , a  lineage  is a  unilineal descent  group that traces its  ancestry  to a demonstrably  shared ancestor , known as the  apical ancestor . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  Lineages are formed through  relationships  traced either exclusively through the maternal line ( matrilineage ), paternal line ( patrilineage ), or some combination of both ( ambilineal ). [ 4 ]  The cultural significance of matrilineal or patrilineal descent varies greatly, shaping  social structures ,  inheritance patterns , and even rituals across  societies . [ 5 ]


From  Middle English   linage , from  Old French   linage , from  ligne , from  Latin   linea  (“line”); equivalent to  line  +  -age .


A lineage is a  descent group  characterized by  unilineal descent . [ 1 ]  This means that lineage membership is determined by tracing  ancestry  through either a single line ( unilineal ), either  maternal  or  paternal , [ 3 ]  or through a combination of both lines ( ambilineal ). [ 4 ]  This differentiates lineages from other  descent groups  like  clans , which may have a  shared ancestor  but lack the demonstrably documented or traditionally accepted  apical ancestor  from whom all members descend. [ 6 ]  There are three forms of lineage,  matrilineage ,  patrilineage , and  ambilineal . [ 4 ]


In  matrilineage , descent is traced exclusively through the  maternal line . [ 7 ]  Children inherit lineage membership from their mother, and the lineage consists of a mother, her children, and her children's children who are all  matrilineally related . The  Minangkabau people  of  Indonesia , being a  Jew  in the  Jewish religion , [ 8 ]  and the  Khasi people  of  India  are well-known examples of societies with prominent matrilineal structures. [ 9 ]


In  patrilineage , descent is traced exclusively through the  paternal line . [ 10 ]  Children inherit lineage membership from their father, and the lineage consists of a father, his children, and his children's children who are all  patrilineally related . [ 11 ]   Patrilineages  are more common globally, with examples found in many cultures, such as much of  South East Asia . [ 12 ] [ 13 ]


In  ambilineal  lineage, descent is traced through either the  maternal  and/or the  paternal lines , usually meaning that the individuals choose whether to affiliate with their  mother or their father's group , or both. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]  Ambilineal lineage can be  bilineal  or  bilateral . [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ]   Ambilineal  lineages are relatively rare in more under-developed societies, such as  South East Asia , [ 4 ]  and very common in modernized societies, such as the  United States  and  Western Europe . [ 19 ]


In  Bilineal  lineage (also known as double descent), children are part of both their  mother and their father's groups . [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 17 ]  This results in many more people in a lineage. [ 22 ]  Examples of  bilineal lineage  include the  Yako people  of  Nigeria . [ 23 ] [ 21 ]


Lineages play a large role in  social organization  across  cultures . [ 24 ]  They influence  inheritance  patterns, with  property  and titles often passed down within the lineage. [ 25 ]  In addition, lineages often have religious significance, with one's  ancestorial history  often determining one's  religion  and position in that religion. [ 26 ]  The structure of lineages also leads to stability, [ 3 ]   social obligations , and  reciprocity  among members, providing support networks and a sense of shared identity. [ 27 ]


A  lineal  or  direct descendant , in legal usage, is a blood  relative  in the direct line of  descent  – the  children , grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. of a person. In a legal procedure sense, lineal descent refers to the acquisition of estate by inheritance by parent from grandparent and by child from parent, whereas collateral descent refers to the acquisition of estate or real property by inheritance by sibling from sibling, and cousin from cousin.


Adopted children, for whom  adoption  statutes create the same rights of heirship as  children of the body , come within the meaning of the term "lineal descendants," as used in a statute providing for the non-lapse of a devise where the devisee predeceases the testator but leaves lineal descendants.


Among some  Native American tribes in the United States , tribal enrollment can be determined by lineal descent, as opposed to a minimum  blood quantum . [ 1 ]  Lineal descent means that anyone directly descended from original tribal enrollees could be eligible for tribal enrollment, regardless of how much native blood they have.


The  antonym  of  descendant  is  antecedent .


A  collateral descendant  is a legal term for a relative descended from a  sibling  of an  ancestor , and thus a  niece ,  nephew , aunt, uncle, or  cousin . [ 2 ]


Lineal succession  was a doctrine of the  Latter Day Saint movement , whereby certain key church positions were held by right of  lineal inheritance . Though lineal succession is now largely abandoned, the offices connected with the practice were the  President of the Church  and the  Presiding Patriarch .


Latter Day Saint scripture teaches that a person may also be called through their lineage, so that they have a legal right to a priesthood office.  The  Doctrine and Covenants  (D&C) teaches that descendants of  Aaron  have legal right to the priesthood: "And if they be literal descendants of Aaron, they have a legal right to the bishopric, if they are the firstborn among the sons of Aaron." [ 1 ]   In a revelation recorded by  Joseph Smith ,  recorded in the D&C, he was promised his lineage would have the priesthood: "Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." [ 2 ] [ 3 ]


One who has the right and calling to hold these positions through lineage must still be ordained by the church hierarchy before officiating in the office.


During his lifetime, Smith was  president  of the  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . At the time of Smith's  death  in 1844, most Latter Day Saints agreed that his older brother,  Hyrum , would have been Smith's successor, had he not also been killed. Another likely successor was Smith's younger brother,  Samuel , who died less than one month later. A few asserted that the last surviving Smith brother,  William , should become church president, and William made that claim for a time and gathered a small faction of followers around him.


Many Latter Day Saints believed that a son of Joseph Smith should be the successor to the church presidency. Several prominent leaders asserted that a  patriarchal blessing  given to Smith's eldest son,  Joseph Smith III , designated the boy to succeed his father. However, at the time of his father's death, Joseph III was only 11 years old.


As a result, many leaders arose who either argued against lineal succession or suggested that the church would have to wait for Joseph Smith III to mature.  This created what is known as the  succession crisis . The largest group, led by  Brigham Young , were proponents of a system whereby the senior member of the  Quorum of the Twelve Apostles  would succeed to the church presidency, absent any lineal succession. This system of apostolic succession continues in  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  (LDS Church). [ 4 ]


Other Latter Day Saints living in the Midwest United States continued to support lineal succession and in 1860, they invited Joseph Smith III to become president of what would later be called the  Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  (RLDS Church), known today as  Community of Christ . This church continued to appoint presidents who were  patrilineal  descendants of Joseph Smith until 1996, when  Wallace B. Smith  (a great-grandson of the Latter Day Saint founder) designated  W. Grant McMurray  (who was unrelated to the Smiths) as his successor. Abandonment of lineal succession by the RLDS Church was a factor that caused a schism and foundation of several small Latter Day Saint churches, including the  Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , which accepted Frederick Niels Larsen (a grandson of  Frederick M. Smith  through his daughter Lois) as its Prophet–President.


Most Latter Day Saints originally believed that the  Presiding Patriarch  of the church should be transmitted by lineal succession. The first Presiding Patriarch,  Joseph Smith, Sr. , was the father of the founding prophet. On his death bed, Joseph Sr. appointed his eldest living son, Hyrum Smith, Presiding Patriarch "by right" of inheritance. When Hyrum was killed in 1844, his youngest brother, William, became Presiding Patriarch. William broke with Brigham Young,  President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles , in part over the office. William asserted that the Presiding Patriarch's title was "Patriarch  over  the Church" and Young argued for the less grand "Patriarch  to  the Church." William was later excommunicated by Young's faction, which became the LDS Church. William joined with  James J. Strang , a rival claimant for the church presidency. Breaking with the  Strangites , William eventually joined his nephew, Joseph Smith III, and the RLDS Church. William petitioned Joseph III to restore him to the office of Presiding Patriarch of the RLDS Church, but the re-appointment never occurred.


After William's death, Joseph Smith III reinstituted the office of Presiding Patriarch, appointing his brother  Alexander Hale Smith  to the office. Thereafter, the office of Presiding Patriarch in the RLDS Church remained within the Smith family and was passed by lineal succession until 1958. In that year, W. Wallace Smith ended the tradition by calling  Roy Cheville  as Presiding Patriarch. Today, Presiding Patriarchs of what is now the Community of Christ are known as "Presiding Evangelists."


After William Smith was excommunicated by Brigham Young, "Uncle"  John Smith  (brother of Joseph Smith, Sr.) was appointed by Young to be Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. After the death of that John Smith, another  John Smith  (a son of Hyrum Smith) became Presiding Patriarch of the LDS Church. Thereafter, the majority of the Presiding Patriarchs of the LDS Church were descendants of Hyrum, in keeping with the tradition of lineal succession. The LDS Church ceased to include Presiding Patriarchs in its hierarchy after 1979, when  Eldred G. Smith  was released from official duties and designated as  emeritus .


In the LDS Church, some leaders have regarded the office of  apostle  as one that may be transmitted by lineal succession, though such a practice has never been formalized in the church. The following father–son apostle combinations have existed in the LDS Church:


Additionally, the following grandfather–grandson apostle combinations have existed:


This is a purported  list of ancient humans remains, including  mummies , that may have been  DNA tested .  Provided as evidence of the testing are links to the  mitochondrial DNA  sequences, and/or to the human  haplogroups  to which each case has been assigned. Also provided is a brief description of when and where they lived. [ according to whom? ]  Entries lacking a citation should be viewed with skepticism; in particular, cases with no sequence or haplogroup links, with citation, have no evidentiary basis for appearing.


The following mummies have undergone mtDNA ( mitochondrial DNA ) and YDNA tests, of remains with the indicated name, from the indicated locations:


15,100-13,900 [ 5 ]


U6a7b [ 5 ]


U6a7 [ 5 ]


M1b [ 5 ]


U6a1b [ 5 ]


E1b1b1a1 [ 5 ]


N/A [ 5 ]


E1b1b [ 5 ]


YM:KMM A 63


2,300 [ 21 ]


HV [ 21 ]


The following mummies have undergone DNA tests, of remains with the indicated name, from the indicated locations: [ citation needed ]


D16S539, D18S51, CSF1PO, FGA  [ 24 ]


D16S539, CSF1PO  [ 24 ]


In Islam, a  mahram  ( Arabic :  محرم ) is a family member with whom marriage would be considered permanently unlawful ( haram ). A woman does not need to wear  hijab  around her mahram or spouse, and an adult male mahram or husband may escort a woman on a journey, although an escort may not be obligatory. [ 1 ]


When a woman acts as a  wetnurse  (that is she breast feeds an infant that is not her own child for a certain amount of time under certain conditions), she becomes the child's  rada  mother. In English these can be referred to as  milk brother , milk-mother, and so on. For a man,  mahram  women include his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, grandaunt, niece, grandniece, his father's wife, his wife's daughter (step-daughter), his daughter-in-law (if previously married to his biological son. She is not  mahram  if she was married to his adopted son), his mother-in-law, his  rada  mother and  rada  sister. According to the Islamic prophet  Muhammad , "What is forbidden by reason of kinship is forbidden by reason of suckling." [ 2 ]


These are considered  mahram  because they are mentioned in the  Quran  (An-Nisa 22–23):


22. Do not marry former wives of your fathers—except what was done previously. It was indeed a shameful, despicable, and evil practice.
23. ˹Also˺ forbidden to you for marriage are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal and maternal aunts, your brother’s daughters, your sister’s daughters, your foster-mothers, your foster-sisters, your mothers-in-law, your stepdaughters under your guardianship if you have consummated marriage with their mothers—but if you have not, then you can marry them—nor the wives of your own sons, nor two sisters together at the same time—except what was done previously. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.


All of the man's female relatives mentioned in these two verses are considered his  maharim , because it is unlawful ( haram ) for him to marry them, except the wife's sister, whom he can marry if he divorces her sister, or if his wife dies. The notion of  mahram  is reciprocal. All other relatives are considered non- maharim .


A woman may be legally escorted during a journey by her husband, or by any sane, adult male  mahram  by blood, although an escort may not be required, including:


A Muslim woman's  mahrams  form the group of allowable escorts when she travels.


For a spouse, being  mahram  is a permanent condition. That means, for example, that a man will remain  mahram  to his ex-mother-in-law after divorcing her daughter.


A  male heir  (sometimes  heirs male )—usually describing the first-born son ( primogeniture ) or oldest surviving son of a family—has traditionally been the recipient of the residue of the estate, titles, wealth and responsibilities of his father in a  patrilineal  system. [ 1 ]  This system may vary by region but has ancient, perhaps prehistoric, origins, and appears in the  Code of Hammurabi : "Since daughters marry strangers and thereby cut themselves off from their family, only sons inherit the paternal estate. It is they who perpetuate the family name, and preserve the ancestral property." [ 2 ]


Absence or inadequacy of a male heir has thus been periodically problematic, resulting in  succession crises , corporate upheaval, and the occasional war. [ 3 ]  The presence or absence of a male heir may alter the decision-making patterns of fathers. [ 4 ]


In the  Hebrew Bible  and  Jewish religious law , a  mamzer  ( Hebrew :  ממזר ,  lit. , "estranged person"; plural  mamzerim ) is a person who is born as the result of certain  forbidden relationships  or  incest  (as it is defined by the  Bible ), or the descendant of such a person. Mamzer status ( ממזרות ,  mamzerut ) is not synonymous with the traditional western definition of  illegitimacy , since it does not include children born to unmarried mothers. [ 1 ]


Some have explained the word  mamzer  as the masculine noun form derived from the  root   m-z-r , having a meaning of spoilt/corrupt. [ 2 ]


According to  Strong's Concordance : "from an unused root meaning 'to alienate'; a mongrel, i. e., born of a Jewish father and a  heathen  mother". [ 3 ]


The  Talmud  explains the term homiletically as consisting of the words  mum  (defect) and  zar  (strange/alien), a euphemism for an illicit union in the person's lineage. [ 4 ]


The term occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible. The first time is  Deuteronomy 23:3  (23:2 in non-Hebrew versions). The  Septuagint  translates the term  mamzer  as son "of a prostitute" ( Greek :  [ek  pornes ]  Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (pos 11) ( help ) ), [ 5 ]  and the Latin  Vulgate  translates it as  de  scorto  natus  ("born of a prostitute"). [ 6 ]  In English, it is often translated as "bastard".


A bastard ( mamzer ) shall not enter into the congregation of the L ORD ; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the L ORD .


The other occasion is in  Zechariah 9:6 : "And a bastard ( mamzer ) shall dwell in  Ashdod ...".


In the Talmud, the term  mamzer  is applied to the descendants of specific illicit unions. According to the  Mishnah , a  mamzer  is the offspring of a biblically forbidden union for which his progenitors are liable to  extirpation  at the hands of heaven. [ 10 ]  An exception to this rule is when a Jewish man cohabits with a  menstruant woman : Although he is liable thereby to extirpation, the child born from such union is not a  mamzer . The practical bearing of this ruling is that it excludes from such defamation a child born outside of wedlock, and which child is often wrongly called " bastard " under  common law . According to the  Shulchan Aruch , a new line of  mamzerim  can only be produced by two Jews but the product of a non-Jew and a  mamzeret  (female  mamzer ) is a  mamzer . [ 11 ]


There are two categories of  mamzerim . A child born of incest, as defined by the Bible, is a  mamzer . Note, however, that an incestuous relationship between one or two non-Jews cannot produce a  mamzer , and if the product of such a union were to  convert , he or she would be the equal of any Jew. [ 12 ]


A child born of a married Jewish woman's  adultery  is a  mamzer . The child of a single woman and a man she could lawfully have married is not a  mamzer . [ 13 ]  It is irrelevant if the man is married or not. If one of the parents is not Jewish, the child is not a  mamzer . Any child born to a married woman, even if she is known to have been unfaithful, is presumed to be her husband's, unless she is so promiscuous that such a presumption becomes unsupportable, [ 14 ]  or if she enters a public relationship with another man. [ 15 ]


A child born within 12 months of a woman's most recent meeting with her husband is presumed to be legitimate, since Jewish law believes that in rare cases, a pregnancy can last that long. [ 16 ]  However, if more than 9 months have elapsed, and she is known to have been unfaithful, then the presumption does not apply. [ 17 ]  Modern  assisted reproductive technology  has complicated the issue.  Rabbi   Moshe Feinstein  ruled that if a married woman is inseminated by sperm from another man, the child is not a  mamzer , since it did not result from an act of adultery; Rabbi  Joel Teitelbaum  (2005) disagreed, and ruled that, since the child is known to be that of a man other than her husband, it is a  mamzer . [ 18 ]


The status of an  abandoned child  (Hebrew:  asufi ) was determined by the state in which it was found. If there were indications that the foundling had been abandoned due to the parents being unable to support it, then, halakhically, the child would not be a  mamzer . [ 19 ]  However, if the unknown parents could have supported the child, it was regarded as potentially being a mamzer. [ 19 ]  A child whose mother is known, but not the father, was known as "silent one" (Hebrew:  shetuki ), and fell into the same category as a foundling; [ 19 ]  this status, however, could be changed if the mother knew and revealed the identity of the father. [ 19 ]


The  mamzer  status is hereditary – a child of a  mamzer  (whether mother or father) is also a  mamzer . However, since these rules are regarded as applying only to Jews, and since traditional Rabbinical law regards  Jewish status  as only transmitted through the mother, the child of a male  mamzer  and a non-Jewish woman cannot be a  mamzer .  However, the child of a female  mamzer  and a non-Jewish man is a  mamzer . [ 20 ]


The biblical rule against certain people becoming part of the "congregation of the Lord" [ 21 ]  was interpreted in the Talmud as a prohibition against ordinary Jews  marrying  such people. Although the biblical passage includes in this up to the tenth generation of the descendants of a  mamzer , classical rabbis interpreted this as an  idiom  meaning "forever". Thus, in traditional Jewish law, a  mamzer  and his or her descendants are not allowed to marry an ordinary (non- mamzer ) Jewish spouse.


The restriction does not prevent a  mamzer  from marrying another  mamzer , nor from marrying a  convert to Judaism , or a non-Jewish slave. However, foundlings suspected of being  mamzerim  were not so free; they were neither permitted to marry a  mamzer , nor even to marry another foundling. [ 19 ]


This interpretation is not universally shared, with  Matthew Poole  interpreting the "congregation of the Lord" as being the  Israelite government . [ 22 ] [ 23 ]


Although in many historical societies, illegitimacy of birth was a quality which could make a person somewhat of an  outcast , this was not the official attitude of Judaism; apart from the marriage restrictions, a  mamzer  is not officially considered a  second-class citizen , and is supposed to be treated with as much respect as other Jews. [ 24 ]  For example, the  Mishnah  teaches that a learned  mamzer  should "take precedence" over an ignorant  High Priest of Israel ; [ 25 ]  the meaning of "take precedence" is not explicitly explained by the Mishnah, nor by the Talmud in general, although the preceding part of the Mishnah uses it to refer to the priority in which people should be rescued from danger, while other parts of the Mishnah use the phrase to refer to the priority in which people should receive  aliyot . [ 26 ]


Rabbis in the Talmud, and those in the Middle Ages, saw fit to spell out that, aside from in questions of marriage, a  mamzer  should be treated as an ordinary Jew. The Talmud insists that a  mamzer  should be considered as an ordinary relative for the purpose of inheritance, [ 27 ]  including  levirate marriage . [ 28 ]   Maimonides  and  Joseph ben Ephraim Karo  see fit to repeat this, [ 29 ] [ 30 ]  and confirm that a  mamzer  can serve as a  judge . [ 31 ] [ 32 ]  Similarly, a  tosafa  insists that it is permissible for a  mamzer  to become a king. [ 33 ]


The status of mamzerim could even be relinquished, either by the mamzer marrying a servant or the mamzer becoming a servant themselves, with their status being immediately relinquished upon their release. [ 34 ]


The principal approach in  Orthodox Judaism  is to require strict evidentiary standards for  mamzer  status, sufficiently strict that proof of the existence of  mamzer  status is hard to develop and generally does not arise. Typically, it is impossible to prove either that a prior marriage ever existed, or that a child was born of relations outside that marriage. Orthodox rabbis always allow the suspect child the  benefit of the doubt  in this matter. This usually leads to the conclusion that at the time of a person's birth, their parents were married, or that the person is the child of a man and woman who were married to each other when the child was conceived.


An example is a contemporary  responsum  by Rabbi  Ovadia Yosef , establishing the impossibility to prove  mamzer  status in a case where the evidence might appear to be clear-cut. [ 35 ] [ 36 ]  The case involved the daughter of an  aguna  who had been married by a  Haredi  rabbi to a husband who subsequently converted to Christianity and refused to participate in a  Jewish divorce . The mother eventually divorced and remarried civilly, and had the daughter years later. The daughter had been raised as an Orthodox Jew and attended  Beit Yaakov , a Haredi  day school .  The daughter brought up the question of her status herself prior to an impending marriage. Rabbi Yosef proceeded systematically to disqualify evidence that a prior marriage had ever taken place. The mother's evidence was immediately disqualified as an interested party. The  ketubah  (Jewish marriage contract/certificate) was never found. The rabbi who performed the marriage was contacted, but Rabbi Yosef wrote that his testimony could not be accepted without the ketubah, and in any event required corroboration by two witnesses. Attempts to contact the husband were abandoned after an adversarial conversation with his new, non-Jewish wife. Even if the husband could have been reached, he would only have been one witness, and his testimony could not have been accepted without a second witness. Thus, Rabbi Yosef concluded there was insufficient evidence that a valid prior marriage had ever taken place. Rabbi Yosef then proceeded to establish the possibility that the former husband might be the daughter's father. The mother testified that her former husband occasionally brought  alimony  payments and came for visitation in person, and hence, the two were sometimes at least momentarily alone together. Applying an ancient rule that when a husband and wife are known to be alone together behind a closed door, the law presumes sexual intercourse may well have taken place, Rabbi Yosef concluded that it was possible that the former husband was the daughter's father, and hence, Jewish law, which very strongly construes all evidence in favour of birth within marriage, had to presume that he was. Thus, Rabbi Yosef concluded that there was insufficient evidence of either a former marriage or that the new husband was the father, and hence, he concluded that there was insufficient evidence of  mamzerut  status.  Rabbi Yosef said, "The ruling therefore must be that there is very great reason to permit this woman to marry and enter the congregation of God, and as it appears to me have I written." [ 36 ]


Conservative  rabbi  Daniel S. Nevins , commenting on this case, noted that the box of traditional tools Rabbi Yosef used to discredit evidence of  mamzer  status may be sufficiently robust as to cover virtually all cases of inquiry in the types of situations a congregation rabbi would be likely to experience. [ 37 ]  Nonetheless, Orthodox rabbinical authorities hold that while contemporary rabbis have authority to refine procedural rules such as rules of evidence, they do not have the authority to abolish biblically mandated categories or procedures entirely.


Israeli law tries to prevent the conferring of mamzer status by refusing to allow men other than the husband or recent ex-husband from registering as a child's father without a court order. [ 38 ]  However,  paternity tests  have the potential to reveal mamzer status by removing the protection of the presumption of paternity on the part of a married woman's actual husband. [ 39 ]


The  Committee on Jewish Law and Standards  (CJLS) of the  Rabbinical Assembly  of  Conservative Judaism  has declared that Conservative Rabbis should not inquire into or accept evidence of  mamzer  status under any circumstances, rendering the category inoperative. In doing so, the CJLS distinguished the Conservative approach to  Jewish law  from the Orthodox approach, noting that Conservative Judaism regards Biblical law as only the beginning of a relationship rather than a final word, and that the Conservative movement regards it as its role and responsibility to revise Biblical law from time to time when such law conflicts with evolving concepts of morality. [ 26 ]


In  Zechariah  9:6, " mamzer " is referenced similar to that of the nations of  Ammon ,  Moab ,  Edom ,  Egypt ,  Tyre ,  Zidon ,  Ashkelon ,  Gaza ,  Philistia , etc. From such,  Karaites  have come to consider the most logical understanding of the Hebrew to actually refer to a nation of people. Karaites believe that such an understanding fits perfectly into the context of both Deuteronomy 23 and Zechariah 9, and several Medieval rabbinical Jewish sages felt it necessary to debate this topic with medieval Karaite Jewish sages. [ 40 ]


In the modern  State of Israel , the law concerning matters of marriage, divorce, and personal status, is partially under the jurisdiction of religious courts. For example, there is no civil marriage in Israel. The Jewish religious regulations concerning  mamzerim  are thus also the national laws imposed on Jews living in Israel, including  secular Jews . Because of the severe impediments to marriage which  mamzer  status accords in Jewish law, Israeli civil law has taken the position that the paternity of a child born within a marriage cannot legally be challenged in civil courts, in order to avoid creating a body of evidence that might be used to declare the child a  mamzer , or create difficulties for a future marriage.


The existence of  mamzer  status as a category in Israeli family law has been criticized. An extensive review and opinion advocating the adoption of civil marriage in Israel, written by Prof. Pinhas Shifman and published in July 2001 by the  Association for Civil Rights in Israel , mentions  Mamzer  among the categories of Israelis which, Professor Shifman believes, should have the right to marry spouses of their choice, and, he argues, current Israeli law interferes with, and denies, this right. Professor Shifman and ACRI advocate ending the religious monopoly over marriage in Israel, and cite the existence and difficulties of  mamzer  status as an argument against the use of religious law in marriage cases. [ 41 ]


Israeli religious courts resolve  mamzer  status by generally ruling that the child was born within the marriage, despite the existence of evidence to the contrary. This convenient formula sometimes causes difficulties for lovers or subsequent spouses who wish to assert paternity over a child which may be biologically theirs. A 2006 case, in which a child born eight months and two weeks after a divorce, was declared the former husband's child, rather than the child of the wife's subsequent husband, and this was reported as causing a dilemma for the subsequent couple. [ 42 ]


Nonetheless, the existence of the category of  Mamzer , and the marital impediments inherent to it, is one of the arguments frequently used by Israeli  secularists  in calling for  separation of religion and state , and for the institution of  civil marriage . In 2014, the  Center for Women's Justice  announced it would petition the  Israeli Supreme Court  to bar secret blacklists of  mamzerim  by rabbinical courts, claiming they are an invasion of privacy. [ 43 ]


A persistent etymology of the surname  Manser  is connected to Hebrew  mamzer . [ 44 ]  Supposedly  Ebalus of Aquitaine  ( Count of Poitou  and  Duke of Aquitaine , c. 870 – 935) had the nickname "Manzer" or "Manser". As he is known to have been a bastard and reputed to have had a Jewish mother, this nickname is considered to be derived from  mamzer . A similar explanation is offered also for the same nickname as used by another prince from  Occitania :  Arnaud Manzer  [ fr ] , a 10th-century count of  Angoulême  who also was a bastard.  William the Conqueror  may have been referred to as  Bastardus  and  Mamzer . [ 45 ]


Marriage , also called  matrimony  or  wedlock , is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called  spouses . It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and between them and their  in-laws . [ 1 ]  It is nearly a  cultural universal , [ 2 ]  but the definition of marriage varies between  cultures  and  religions , and over time. Typically, it is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be  compulsory before pursuing sexual activity . A marriage ceremony is called a  wedding , while a private marriage is sometimes called an  elopement .


Around the world, there has been a general trend towards ensuring  equal rights for women  and ending discrimination and harassment against couples who are  interethnic ,  interracial ,  interfaith ,  interdenominational ,  interclass ,  intercommunity ,  transnational , and  same-sex  as well as immigrant couples, couples with an immigrant spouse, and other minority couples. Debates persist regarding the legal status of married women, leniency towards violence within marriage, customs such as  dowry  and  bride price ,  marriageable age , and criminalization of premarital and  extramarital sex . Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, social,  libidinal , emotional, financial, spiritual, cultural, economic, political, religious, sexual, and romantic purposes. In some areas of the world,  arranged marriage ,  forced marriage ,  polygyny marriage ,  polyandry marriage ,  group marriage ,  coverture marriage ,  child marriage ,  cousin marriage ,  sibling marriage ,  teenage marriage ,  avunculate marriage ,  incestuous marriage , and  bestiality marriage  are practiced and legally permissible, while others areas outlaw them to protect  human rights . [ 3 ] [ improper synthesis? ]  Female age at marriage has proven to be a strong indicator for female  autonomy  and is continuously used by  economic history  research. [ 4 ]


Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or peers. It is often viewed as a contract. A religious marriage ceremony is performed by a religious institution to recognize and create the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony in that religion. Religious marriage is known variously as  sacramental  marriage  in  Christianity  (especially  Catholicism ),  nikah  in  Islam ,  nissuin  in  Judaism , and various other names in other faith traditions, each with their own constraints as to what constitutes, and who can enter into, a valid religious marriage.


The word  marriage  appeared around 1300 and is borrowed from  Old French   mariage  (12th century), ultimately tracing to the  Latin   maritātus  'married',  past participle  of  maritāre  'to marry'. [ 5 ]  The adjective  marītus, -a, -um  'matrimonial, nuptial' could also be used, through  nominalization , in the masculine form as a noun for 'husband' and in the feminine form for 'wife'. [ 6 ]  The related word  matrimony  is borrowed from the Old French word  matremoine , which appears around 1300 CE and is in turn ultimately a  learned borrowing  from Latin  mātrimōnium , which is derived from  māter  ' mother ' with the suffix  -mōnium  for an action, state, or condition. [ 7 ]


Anthropologists  have proposed several competing definitions of marriage in an attempt to encompass the wide variety of marital practices observed across cultures. [ 8 ]  Even within  Western culture , "definitions of marriage have careened from one extreme to another and everywhere in between" (as Evan Gerstmann has put it). [ 9 ]


In  The History of Human Marriage  (1891),  Edvard Westermarck  defined marriage as "a more or less durable connection between male and female lasting beyond the mere act of propagation till after the birth of the offspring." [ 10 ]  In  The Future of Marriage in Western Civilization  (1936), he rejected his earlier definition, instead provisionally defining marriage as "a relation of one or more men to one or more women that is recognized by custom or law". [ 11 ]


The anthropological handbook  Notes and Queries  (1951) defined marriage as "a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are the recognized legitimate offspring of both partners." [ 12 ]  In recognition of a practice by the  Nuer people  of Sudan allowing women to act as a husband in certain circumstances (the  ghost marriage ),  Kathleen Gough  suggested modifying this to "a woman and one or more other persons." [ 13 ]


In an analysis of marriage among the  Nayar , a  polyandrous  society in India, Gough found that the group lacked a husband role in the conventional sense. The husband role, unitary in the west, was instead divided between a non-resident "social father" of the woman's children, and her lovers, who were the actual procreators. None of these men had legal rights to the woman's child. This forced Gough to disregard sexual access as a key element of marriage and to define it in terms of legitimacy of offspring alone. [ 14 ]


Economic anthropologist  Duran Bell  has criticized the legitimacy-based definition on the basis that some societies do not require marriage for legitimacy. He argued that a legitimacy-based definition of marriage is circular in societies where illegitimacy has no other legal or social implications for a child other than the mother being unmarried. [ 8 ]


Edmund Leach  criticized Gough's definition for being too restrictive in terms of recognized legitimate offspring and suggested that marriage be viewed in terms of the different types of rights it serves to establish. In a 1955 article in  Man , Leach argued that no one definition of marriage applied to all cultures. He offered a list of ten rights associated with marriage, including sexual monopoly and rights with respect to children, with specific rights differing across cultures. Those rights, according to Leach, included:


In a 1997 article in  Current Anthropology ,  Duran Bell  describes marriage as "a relationship between one or more men (male or female) in severalty to one or more women that provides those men with a demand-right of sexual access within a domestic group and identifies women who bear the obligation of yielding to the demands of those specific men." In referring to "men in severalty", Bell is referring to corporate kin groups such as lineages which, in having paid bride price, retain a right in a woman's offspring even if her husband (a lineage member) deceases ( Levirate marriage ). In referring to "men (male or female)", Bell is referring to women within the lineage who may stand in as the "social fathers" of the wife's children born of other lovers. (See Nuer " ghost marriage ".) [ 8 ]


Monogamy is a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse during their lifetime or at any one time (serial monogamy).


Anthropologist  Jack Goody 's comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the  Ethnographic Atlas  found a strong correlation between intensive plough agriculture, dowry and monogamy. This pattern was found in a broad swath of Eurasian societies from Japan to Ireland. The majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice extensive hoe agriculture, in contrast, show a correlation between " bride price " and polygamy. [ 17 ]  A further study drawing on the Ethnographic Atlas showed a statistical correlation between increasing size of the society, the belief in "high gods" to support human morality, and monogamy. [ 18 ]


In the countries which do not permit polygamy, a person who marries in one of those countries a person while still being lawfully married to another commits the crime of  bigamy . In all cases, the second marriage is considered legally null and void. Besides the second and subsequent marriages being void, the bigamist is also liable to other penalties, which also vary between jurisdictions.


Governments that support monogamy may allow easy divorce. In a number of Western countries, divorce rates approach 50%. Those who remarry do so usually no more than three times. [ 19 ]  Divorce and remarriage can thus result in "serial monogamy", i.e. having multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time. This can be interpreted as a form of plural mating, as are those societies dominated by female-headed families in the  Caribbean ,  Mauritius  and  Brazil  where there is frequent rotation of unmarried partners. In all, these account for 16 to 24% of the "monogamous" category. [ 20 ]


Serial monogamy creates a new kind of relative, the "ex-". The "ex-wife", for example, may remain an active part of her "ex-husband's" or "ex-wife's" life, as they may be tied together by transfers of resources (alimony, child support), or shared child custody.


Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two spouses. [ 21 ]  When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, the relationship is called  polygyny , and there is no marriage bond between the wives; and when a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called  polyandry , and there is no marriage bond between the husbands. If a marriage includes multiple husbands or wives, it can be called  group marriage . [ 21 ]


A molecular genetic study of global human genetic diversity argued that sexual polygyny was typical of human reproductive patterns until the shift to sedentary farming communities approximately 10,000 to 5,000 years ago in Europe and Asia, and more recently in Africa and the Americas. [ 22 ]  As noted above, Anthropologist  Jack Goody 's comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the  Ethnographic Atlas  found that the majority of Sub-Saharan African societies that practice extensive hoe agriculture show a correlation between " Bride price " and polygamy. [ 17 ]  A survey of other cross-cultural samples has confirmed that the absence of the plough was the only predictor of polygamy, although other factors such as high male mortality in warfare (in non-state societies) and pathogen stress (in state societies) had some impact. [ 23 ]


Marriages are classified according to the number of legal spouses an individual has. The suffix "-gamy" refers specifically to the number of spouses, as in  bi-gamy  (two spouses, generally illegal in most nations), and poly-gamy (more than one spouse).


Societies show variable acceptance of polygamy as a cultural ideal and practice. According to the  Ethnographic Atlas , of 1,231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous; 453 had occasional polygyny; 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 4 had polyandry. [ 24 ]  However, as Miriam Zeitzen writes, social tolerance for polygamy is different from the practice of polygamy, since it requires wealth to establish multiple households for multiple wives. The actual practice of polygamy in a tolerant society may actually be low, with the majority of aspirant polygamists practicing monogamous marriage. Tracking the occurrence of polygamy is further complicated in jurisdictions where it has been banned, but continues to be practiced ( de facto polygamy ). [ 25 ]


Zeitzen also notes that Western perceptions of African society and marriage patterns are biased by "contradictory concerns of nostalgia for traditional African culture versus critique of polygamy as oppressive to women or detrimental to development." [ 25 ]  Polygamy has been condemned as being a form of human rights abuse, with concerns arising over domestic abuse, forced marriage, and neglect. The vast majority of countries do not permit polygamy.


Polygyny usually grants wives equal status, although the husband may have personal preferences. One type of de facto polygyny is  concubinage , where only one woman gets a wife's rights and status, while other women remain legal house mistresses.


Although a society may be classified as polygynous, not all marriages in it necessarily are; monogamous marriages may in fact predominate. It is to this flexibility that Anthropologist  Robin Fox  attributes its success as a social support system:


This has often meant – given the imbalance in the sex ratios, the higher male infant mortality, the shorter life span of males, the loss of males in wartime, etc. – that often women were left without financial support from husbands. To correct this condition, females had to be killed at birth, remain single, become prostitutes, or be siphoned off into celibate religious orders. Polygynous systems have the advantage that they can promise, as did the Mormons, a home and family for every woman. [ 26 ]


Nonetheless, polygyny is a gender issue which offers men asymmetrical benefits. In some cases, there is a large age discrepancy (as much as a generation) between a man and his youngest wife, compounding the power differential between the two. Tensions not only exist  between  genders, but also  within  genders; senior and junior men compete for wives, and senior and junior wives in the same household may experience radically different life conditions, and internal hierarchy. Several studies have suggested that the wive's relationship with other women, including co-wives and husband's female kin, are more critical relationships than that with her husband for her productive, reproductive and personal achievement. [ 27 ]  In some societies, the co-wives are relatives, usually sisters, a practice called  sororal polygyny ; the pre-existing relationship between the co-wives is thought to decrease potential tensions within the marriage. [ 28 ]


Fox argues that "the major difference between polygyny and monogamy could be stated thus: while plural mating occurs in both systems, under polygyny several unions may be recognized as being legal marriages while under monogamy only one of the unions is so recognized. Often, however, it is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the two." [ 29 ]


As polygamy in Africa is increasingly subject to legal limitations, a variant form of  de facto  (as opposed to legal or  de jure ) polygyny is being practiced in urban centers. Although it does not involve multiple (now illegal) formal marriages, the domestic and personal arrangements follow old polygynous patterns. The de facto form of polygyny is found in other parts of the world as well (including some Mormon sects and Muslim families in the United States). [ 30 ]
In some societies such as the  Lovedu  of South Africa, or the  Nuer  of the Sudan, aristocratic women may become female 'husbands.' In the Lovedu case, this female husband may take a number of polygamous wives. This is not a lesbian relationship, but a means of legitimately expanding a royal lineage by attaching these wives' children to it. The relationships are considered polygynous, not polyandrous, because the female husband is in fact assuming masculine gendered political roles. [ 28 ]


Religious groups have differing views on the legitimacy of  polygyny . It is allowed in  Islam  and  Confucianism .  Judaism  and  Christianity  have mentioned practices involving polygyny in the past, however, outright religious acceptance of such practices was not addressed until its rejection in later passages. They do explicitly prohibit polygyny today.


Polyandry  is notably more rare than polygyny, though less rare than the figure commonly cited in the  Ethnographic Atlas  (1980) which listed only those polyandrous societies found in the Himalayan Mountains. More recent studies have found 53 societies outside the 28 found in the Himalayans which practice polyandry. [ 31 ]  It is most common in egalitarian societies marked by high male mortality or male absenteeism. It is associated with  partible paternity , the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father. [ 32 ]


The explanation for polyandry in the Himalayan Mountains is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife ( fraternal polyandry ) allows family land to remain intact and undivided. If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this was prevented through the social practice of impartible inheritance (the dis-inheriting of most siblings, some of whom went on to become celibate monks and priests). [ 33 ]


Group marriage  (also known as  multi-lateral marriage ) is a form of  polyamory  in which more than two persons form a  family  unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group marriage, and all members of the marriage share  parental  responsibility for any children arising from the marriage. [ 34 ]  No country legally condones group marriages, neither under the law nor as a common law marriage, but historically it has been practiced by some cultures of Polynesia, Asia, Papua New Guinea and the Americas – as well as in some  intentional communities  and alternative subcultures such as the  Oneida Perfectionists  in up-state New York. Of the 250 societies reported by the American anthropologist  George Murdock  in 1949, only the  Kaingang  of Brazil had any group marriages at all. [ 35 ]


A child marriage is a marriage where one or both spouses are under the age of 18. [ 36 ] [ 37 ]  It is related to child  betrothal  and  teenage pregnancy .


Child marriage was common throughout history, even up until the 1900s in the United States, where in 1880 CE, in the state of  Delaware , the age of consent for marriage was 7 years old. [ 38 ]  Still, in 2017, over half of the 50 United States have no explicit minimum age to marry and several states set the age as low as 14. [ 39 ]  Today it is condemned by international human rights organizations. [ 40 ] [ 41 ]  Child marriages are often arranged between the families of the future bride and groom, sometimes as soon as the girl is born. [ 40 ]  However, in the late 1800s in England and the United States,  feminist  activists began calling for raised age of consent laws, which was eventually handled in the 1920s, having been raised to 16–18. [ 42 ]


Child marriages can also occur in the context of  bride kidnapping . [ 40 ]


While child marriage is observed for both boys and girls, the overwhelming majority of child spouses are girls. [ 43 ]  In many cases, only one marriage-partner is a child, usually the female, due to the importance placed upon female  virginity . [ 40 ]  Causes of child marriage include  poverty ,  bride price ,  dowry , laws that allow child marriages,  religious  and  social pressures , regional customs, fear of remaining unmarried, and perceived inability of women to work for money.


Today, child marriages are widespread in parts of the world; being most common in  South Asia  and  sub-Saharan Africa , with more than half of the girls in some countries in those regions being married before 18. [ 40 ]  The incidence of child marriage has been falling in most parts of the world. In developed countries, child marriage is outlawed or restricted.


Girls who marry before 18 are at greater risk of becoming victims of  domestic violence , than those who marry later, especially when they are married to a much older man. [ 41 ]


Several kinds of same-sex marriages have been documented in Indigenous and lineage-based cultures. In the Americas,  We'wha  ( Zuni ), was a  lhamana  (male individuals who, at least some of the time, dress and live in the roles usually filled by women in that culture); a respected artist, We'wha served as an emissary of the Zuni to Washington, where he met President  Grover Cleveland . [ 44 ]  We'wha had at least one husband who was generally recognized as such. [ 45 ]


While it is a relatively new practice to grant same-sex couples the same form of legal marital recognition as commonly granted to mixed-sex couples, there is some history of recorded same-sex unions around the world. [ 46 ]   Ancient Greek same-sex relationships  were like modern companionate marriages, unlike their different-sex marriages in which the spouses had few emotional ties, and the husband had freedom to engage in outside sexual liaisons. The  Codex Theodosianus  ( C. Th.  9.7.3) issued in 438  CE  imposed severe penalties or death on same-sex relationships, [ 47 ]  but the exact intent of the law and its relation to social practice is unclear, as only a few examples of same-sex relationships in that culture exist. [ 48 ]  Same-sex unions were celebrated in some regions of China, such as  Fujian . [ 49 ]  Possibly the earliest documented same-sex wedding in  Latin Christendom  occurred in  Rome, Italy , at the  San Giovanni a Porta Latina  basilica in 1581. [ 50 ]


Several cultures have practised temporary and conditional marriages. Examples include the  Celtic  practice of  handfasting  and fixed-term marriages in the Muslim community. Pre-Islamic Arabs practiced a form of temporary marriage that carries on today in the practice of  Nikah mut'ah , a fixed-term marriage contract. The Islamic prophet  Muhammad  sanctioned a temporary marriage –  sigheh  in  Iran  and muta'a in  Iraq  – which can provide a legitimizing cover for sex workers. [ 51 ]  The same forms of temporary marriage have been used in Egypt, Lebanon and Iran to make the donation of a human ova legal for  in vitro fertilisation ; a woman cannot, however, use this kind of marriage to obtain a sperm donation. [ 52 ]   Muslim controversies related to Nikah Mut'ah  have resulted in the practice being confined mostly to  Shi'ite  communities. The matrilineal  Mosuo  of China practice what they call "walking marriage".


In some jurisdictions  cohabitation , in certain circumstances, may constitute a  common-law marriage , an  unregistered partnership , or otherwise provide the unmarried partners with various rights and responsibilities; and in some countries, the laws recognize cohabitation in lieu of institutional marriage for taxation and social security benefits. This is the case, for example, in Australia. [ 53 ]  Cohabitation may be an option pursued as a form of resistance to traditional institutionalized marriage. However, in this context, some nations reserve the right to define the relationship as marital, or otherwise to regulate the relation, even if the relation has not been registered with the state or a religious institution. [ 54 ]


Conversely, institutionalized marriages may not involve cohabitation. In some cases, couples living together do not wish to be recognized as married. This may occur because pension or alimony rights are adversely affected; because of taxation considerations; because of immigration issues, or for other reasons. Such marriages have also been increasingly common in  Beijing . Guo Jianmei, director of the center for women's studies at Beijing University, told a  Newsday  correspondent, "Walking marriages reflect sweeping changes in Chinese society." A "walking marriage" refers to a type of temporary marriage formed by the  Mosuo  of China, in which male partners live elsewhere and make nightly visits. [ 55 ]  A similar arrangement in  Saudi Arabia , called  misyar marriage , also involves the husband and wife living separately but meeting regularly. [ 56 ]


There is wide cross-cultural variation in the social rules governing the selection of a partner for marriage. There is variation in the degree to which partner selection is an individual decision by the partners or a collective decision by the partners' kin groups, and there is variation in the rules regulating which partners are valid choices.


The United Nations World Fertility Report of 2003 reports that 89% of all people get married before age forty-nine. [ 58 ]  The percent of women and men who marry before age forty-nine drops to nearly 50% in some nations and reaches near 100% in other nations. [ 59 ]


In other cultures with less strict rules governing the groups from which a partner can be chosen the selection of a marriage partner may involve either the couple going through a selection process of  courtship  or the marriage may be  arranged  by the couple's parents or an outside party, a  matchmaker .


Some people want to marry a person that is older or younger than they. This may impact marital stability [ 60 ]  and partners with more than a 10-year gap in age tend to experience social disapproval [ 61 ]  In addition, older women (older than 35) have increased health risks when getting pregnant. [ 62 ]


Some people want to marry a person with higher or lower status than them. Others want to marry people who have similar status. In many societies, women marry men who are of higher social status. [ 63 ]  There are marriages where each party has sought a partner of similar status. There are other marriages in which the man is older than the woman. [ 64 ]


Some persons also wish to engage in transactional relationship for money rather than love (thus a type of marriage of convenience). Such people are sometimes referred to as  gold diggers .  Separate property systems  can however be used to prevent property of being passed on to partners after divorce or death.


Higher income men are more likely to marry and less likely to divorce. High income women are more likely to divorce. [ 65 ]


Societies have often placed restrictions on marriage to relatives, though the degree of prohibited relationship varies widely. Marriages between parents and children, or between full siblings, with few exceptions, [ 66 ] [ 67 ] [ 68 ] [ 69 ] [ 70 ] [ 71 ] [ 72 ]  have been considered  incest  and forbidden. However,  marriages between more distant relatives  have been much more common, with one estimate being that 80% of all marriages in history have been between second cousins or closer. [ 73 ]  This proportion has fallen dramatically, but still, more than 10% of all marriages are believed to be between people who are second cousins or more closely related. [ 74 ]  In the United States, such marriages are now highly stigmatized, and laws ban most or all first-cousin marriage in 30 states. Specifics vary: in South Korea, historically it was illegal to marry someone with the same last name and same ancestral line. [ 75 ]


An  Avunculate marriage  is a marriage that occurs between an uncle and his niece or between an aunt and her nephew. Such marriages are illegal in most countries due to incest restrictions. However, a small number of countries have legalized it, including  Argentina ,  Australia ,  Austria ,  Malaysia , [ 76 ]  and  Russia . [ 77 ]


In various societies, the choice of partner is often limited to suitable persons from specific social groups. In some societies the rule is that a partner is selected from an individual's own social group –  endogamy , this is often the case in class- and caste-based societies. But in other societies a partner must be chosen from a different group than one's own –  exogamy , this may be the case in societies practicing  totemic  religion where society is divided into several exogamous totemic clans, such as most  Aboriginal Australian  societies. In other societies a person is expected to marry their  cross-cousin , a woman must marry her father's sister's son and a man must marry his mother's brother's daughter – this is often the case if either a society has a rule of tracing kinship exclusively through patrilineal or matrilineal descent groups as among the  Akan people  of West Africa. Another kind of marriage selection is the  levirate marriage  in which widows are obligated to marry their husband's brother, mostly found in societies where kinship is based on endogamous clan groups.


Religion has commonly weighed in on the matter of which relatives, if any, are allowed to marry. Relations may be by  consanguinity  or  affinity , meaning by blood or by marriage. On the marriage of cousins,  Catholic  policy has evolved from initial acceptance, through a long period of general prohibition, to the contemporary requirement for a dispensation. [ 78 ]   Islam  has always allowed it, while  Hindu texts  vary widely. [ 79 ] [ 80 ]


In a wide array of lineage-based societies with a  classificatory kinship system , potential spouses are sought from a specific class of relative as determined by a prescriptive marriage rule. This rule may be expressed by anthropologists using a "descriptive" kinship term, such as a "man's mother's brother's daughter" (also known as a "cross-cousin"). Such descriptive rules mask the participant's perspective: a man should marry a woman from his mother's lineage. Within the society's kinship terminology, such relatives are usually indicated by a specific term which sets them apart as potentially marriageable.  Pierre Bourdieu  notes, however, that very few marriages ever follow the rule, and that when they do so, it is for "practical kinship" reasons such as the preservation of family property, rather than the "official kinship" ideology. [ 81 ]


Insofar as regular marriages following prescriptive rules occur, lineages are linked together in fixed relationships; these ties between lineages may form political alliances in kinship dominated societies. [ 82 ]  French  structural  anthropologist  Claude Lévi-Strauss  developed  alliance theory  to account for the "elementary" kinship structures created by the limited number of prescriptive marriage rules possible. [ 83 ]


A pragmatic (or 'arranged') marriage is made easier by formal procedures of family or group politics. A responsible authority sets up or encourages the marriage; they may, indeed, engage a professional  matchmaker  to find a suitable spouse for an unmarried person. The authority figure could be parents, family, a religious official, or a group consensus. [ 84 ]


A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married against their will. Forced marriages continue to be practiced in parts of the world, especially in  South Asia  and  Africa . The line between forced marriage and consensual marriage may become blurred, because the social norms of these cultures dictate that one should never oppose the desire of one's parents/relatives in regard to the choice of a spouse; in such cultures, it is not necessary for violence, threats, intimidation etc. to occur, the person simply "consents" to the marriage even if they do not want it, out of the implied social pressure and duty. The customs of  bride price  and  dowry , that exist in parts of the world, can lead to buying and selling people into marriage. [ 85 ] [ 86 ]


In some societies, ranging from  Central Asia  to the  Caucasus  to Africa, the custom of  bride kidnapping  still exists, in which a woman is captured by a man and his friends. Sometimes this covers an  elopement , but sometimes it depends on  sexual violence . In previous times,  raptio  was a larger-scale version of this, with groups of women captured by groups of men, sometimes in war; the most famous example is  The Rape of the Sabine Women , which provided the first citizens of Rome with their wives.


Other marriage partners are more or less imposed on an individual. For example,  widow inheritance  provides a widow with another man from her late husband's brothers.


In rural areas of India,  child marriage  is practiced, with parents often arranging the wedding, sometimes even before the child is born. [ 87 ]  This practice was made illegal under the  Child Marriage Restraint Act  of 1929.


The financial aspects of marriage vary between cultures and have changed over time.


In some cultures, dowries and bride wealth continue to be required today. In both cases, the financial arrangements are usually made between the groom (or his family) and the bride's family; with the bride often not being involved in the negotiations, and often not having a choice in whether to participate in the marriage.


In  Early modern Britain , the social status of the couple was supposed to be equal. After the marriage, all the property (called "fortune") and expected inheritances of the wife belonged to the husband.


A  dowry  is


a process whereby parental property is distributed to a daughter at her marriage (i.e.  inter vivos ) rather than at the holder's death ( mortis causa )… A dowry establishes some variety of conjugal fund, the nature of which may vary widely. This fund ensures her support (or endowment) in widowhood and eventually goes to provide for her sons and daughters. [ 88 ]


In some cultures, especially in countries such as  Turkey ,  India ,  Bangladesh ,  Pakistan ,  Sri Lanka ,  Morocco ,  Nepal , dowries continue to be expected. In India, thousands of dowry-related deaths have taken place on yearly basis, [ 89 ] [ 90 ]  to counter this problem, several jurisdictions have enacted laws restricting or banning dowry (see  Dowry law in India ). In Nepal, dowry was made illegal in 2009. [ 91 ]  Some authors believe that the giving and receiving of dowry reflects the status and even the effort to climb high in social hierarchy. [ 92 ]


Direct Dowry contrasts with  bride wealth , which is paid by the groom or his family to the bride's parents, and with indirect dowry (or  dower ), which is property given to the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage and which remains under her ownership and control. [ 93 ]


In the Jewish tradition, the rabbis in ancient times insisted on the marriage couple entering into a  prenuptial agreement , called a  ketubah . Besides other things, the  ketubah  provided for an amount to be paid by the husband in the event of a  divorce  or his estate in the event of his death. This amount was a replacement of the biblical  dower  or  bride price , which was payable at the time of the marriage by the groom to the father of the bride, because many young prospective husbands could not raise the bride price at the time when they would normally be expected to marry. It is the predecessor to the wife's present-day entitlement to  maintenance  in the event of the breakup of marriage, and family maintenance in the event of the husband not providing adequately for the wife in his  will . Another function performed by the  ketubah  amount was to provide a disincentive for the husband contemplating divorcing his wife.


Morning gifts , which might also be arranged by the bride's father rather than the bride, are given to the bride herself; the name derives from the Germanic tribal custom of giving them the morning after the wedding night. She might have control of this morning gift during the lifetime of her husband, but is entitled to it when widowed. If the amount of her inheritance is settled by law rather than agreement, it may be called  dower . Depending on legal systems and the exact arrangement, she may not be entitled to dispose of it after her death, and may lose the property if she remarries. Morning gifts were preserved for centuries in  morganatic marriage , a union where the wife's inferior social status was held to prohibit her children from inheriting a noble's titles or estates. In this case, the morning gift would support the wife and children. Another legal provision for widowhood was  jointure , in which property, often land, would be held in joint tenancy, so that it would automatically go to the widow on her husband's death.


Islamic tradition has similar practices. A ' mahr ', either immediate or deferred, is the woman's portion of the groom's wealth (divorce) or estate (death). These amounts are usually set on the basis of the groom's own and family wealth and incomes, but in some parts these are set very high so as to provide a disincentive for the groom exercising the divorce, or the husband's family 'inheriting' a large portion of the estate, especially if there are no male offspring from the marriage. In some countries, including Iran, the mahr or alimony can amount to more than a man can ever hope to earn, sometimes up to US$1,000,000 (4000 official Iranian gold coins). If the husband cannot pay the mahr, either in case of a divorce or on demand, according to the current laws in Iran, he will have to pay it by installments. Failure to pay the  mahr  might even lead to imprisonment. [ 94 ]


Bridewealth is a common practice in parts of  Southeast Asia  ( Thailand ,  Cambodia ), parts of  Central Asia , and in much of  sub-Saharan Africa . It is also known as brideprice although this has fallen in disfavor as it implies the purchase of the bride. Bridewealth is the amount of  money  or  property  or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom. In  anthropological  literature, bride price has often been explained as payment made to compensate the bride's family for the loss of her labor and fertility. In some cases, bridewealth is a means by which the groom's family's ties to the children of the union are recognized.


In some countries a married person or couple benefits from various taxation advantages not available to a single person. For example, spouses may be allowed to average their combined  incomes . This is advantageous to a married couple with disparate incomes. To compensate for this, countries may provide a higher  tax bracket  for the averaged income of a married couple. While income averaging might still benefit a married couple with a stay-at-home spouse, such averaging would cause a married couple with roughly equal personal incomes to pay more total tax than they would as two single persons. In the United States, this is called the  marriage penalty . [ 95 ]


When the rates applied by the tax code are not based income averaging, but rather on the  sum  of individuals' incomes, higher rates will usually apply to each individual in a two-earner households in a  progressive tax  systems. This is most often the case with high-income taxpayers and is another situation called a marriage penalty. [ 96 ]


Conversely, when progressive tax is levied on the individual with no consideration for the partnership, dual-income couples fare much better than single-income couples with similar household incomes. The effect can be increased when the welfare system treats the same income as a shared income thereby denying welfare access to the non-earning spouse. Such systems apply in Australia and Canada, for example. [ 97 ]


In many Western cultures, marriage usually leads to the formation of a new household comprising the married couple, with the married couple living together in the same home, often sharing the same bed, but in some other cultures this is not the tradition. [ 98 ]  Among the  Minangkabau  of  West Sumatra , residency after marriage is  matrilocal , with the husband moving into the household of his wife's mother. [ 99 ]  Residency after marriage can also be  patrilocal  or  avunculocal . In these cases, married couples may not form an independent household, but remain part of an extended family household.


Early theories explaining the determinants of postmarital residence [ 100 ]  connected it with the sexual division of labor. However, to date,  cross-cultural  tests of this  hypothesis  using worldwide samples have failed to find any significant relationship between these two variables. However,  Korotayev 's tests show that the female contribution to subsistence does correlate significantly with matrilocal residence in general. However, this correlation is masked by a general polygyny factor.


Although, in different-sex marriages, an increase in the female contribution to subsistence tends to lead to matrilocal residence, it also tends simultaneously to lead to general non-sororal  polygyny  which effectively destroys  matrilocality . If this polygyny factor is controlled (e.g., through a multiple  regression  model), division of labor turns out to be a significant predictor of postmarital residence. Thus, Murdock's hypotheses regarding the relationships between the sexual division of labor and postmarital residence were basically correct, though [ 101 ]  the actual relationships between those two groups of variables are more complicated than he expected. [ 102 ] [ 103 ]


There has been a trend toward the  neolocal residence  in western societies. [ 104 ]


Marriage laws refer to the legal requirements which determine the validity of a marriage, which vary considerably between countries. Article 16 of the  Universal Declaration of Human Rights  declares that:


1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.


2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.


A marriage bestows rights and obligations on the married parties, and sometimes on  relatives  as well, being the sole mechanism for the creation of  affinal ties  (in-laws). These may include, depending on jurisdiction:


These rights and obligations vary considerably between societies, and between groups within society. [ 105 ]  These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a  nuclear family  unit, the legal protection of children and public declaration of  commitment . [ 106 ] [ 107 ]


In many countries today, each marriage partner has the choice of keeping his or her property  separate  or combining properties. In the latter case, called  community property , when the marriage ends by divorce each owns half. In lieu of a  will  or  trust , property owned by the deceased generally is inherited by the surviving spouse.


In some legal systems, the partners in a marriage are "jointly liable" for the debts of the marriage. This has a basis in a traditional legal notion called the "Doctrine of Necessities" whereby, in a heterosexual marriage, a husband was responsible to provide necessary things for his wife. Where this is the case, one partner may be sued to collect a debt for which they did not expressly contract. Critics of this practice note that debt collection agencies can abuse this by claiming an unreasonably wide range of debts to be expenses of the marriage. The cost of defense and the burden of proof is then placed on the non-contracting party to prove that the expense is not a debt of the family. The respective maintenance obligations, both during and eventually after a marriage, are regulated in most  jurisdictions ;  alimony  is one such method.


Marriage is an institution that is historically filled with restrictions. From age, to race, to social status, to  consanguinity , to gender, restrictions are placed on marriage by society for reasons of benefiting the children, passing on healthy genes, maintaining cultural values, or because of  prejudice  and  fear . Almost all cultures that recognize marriage also recognize  adultery  as a violation of the terms of marriage. [ 108 ]


Most jurisdictions set a  minimum age for marriage ; that is, a person must attain a certain age to be legally allowed to marry. This age may depend on circumstances, for instance exceptions from the general rule may be permitted if the parents of a young person express their consent and/or if a court decides that said marriage is in the best interest of the young person (often this applies in cases where a girl is pregnant). Although most age restrictions are in place in order to prevent children from being forced into marriages, especially to much older partners – marriages which can have negative education and health related consequences, and lead to  child sexual abuse  and other forms of violence [ 109 ]  – such  child marriages  remain common in parts of the world. According to the UN, child marriages are most common in rural  sub-Saharan Africa  and  South Asia . The ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage are:  Niger  (75%), Chad, Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Malawi. [ 110 ]


To prohibit incest and eugenic reasons, marriage laws have set restrictions for relatives to marry. Direct blood relatives are usually prohibited to marry, while for branch line relatives, laws are wary. [ 111 ] [ 112 ]


Kinship relations through marriage is also called "affinity", relationships that arise in one's group of origin, can also be called one's descent group. Some cultures in kinship relationships may be considered to extend out to those who they have economic or political relationships with; or other forms of social connections. Within some cultures they may lead you back to gods [ 113 ]  or animal ancestors (totems). This can be conceived of on a more or less literal basis.


Laws banning "race-mixing" were enforced in certain North American jurisdictions from 1691 [ 114 ]  until 1967, in  Nazi Germany  (the  Nuremberg Laws ) from 1935 until 1945, and in South Africa during most part of the  apartheid  era (1949–1985). All these laws primarily banned marriage between persons of different racially or ethnically defined groups, which was termed "amalgamation" or "miscegenation" in the U.S. The laws in Nazi Germany and many of the U.S. states, as well as South Africa, also banned sexual relations between such individuals.


In the United States, laws in some but not all of the states prohibited the marriage of whites and blacks, and in many states also the intermarriage of whites with  Native Americans  or  Asians . [ 115 ]  In the U.S., such laws were known as  anti-miscegenation laws . From 1913 until 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced such laws. [ 116 ]  Although an "Anti-Miscegenation Amendment" to the  United States Constitution  was proposed in 1871, in 1912–1913, and in 1928, [ 117 ] [ 118 ]  no nationwide law against racially mixed marriages was ever enacted. In 1967, the  Supreme Court of the United States  unanimously ruled in  Loving v. Virginia  that anti-miscegenation laws are  unconstitutional . With this ruling, these laws were no longer in effect in the remaining 16 states that still had them.


The Nazi ban on interracial marriage and interracial sex was enacted in September 1935 as part of the  Nuremberg Laws , the  Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre  (The Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour). The Nuremberg Laws classified  Jews  as a race and forbade marriage and extramarital sexual relations at first with people of Jewish descent, but was later ended to the "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring" and people of "German or related blood". [ 119 ]  Such relations were marked as  Rassenschande  (lit. "race-disgrace") and could be punished by imprisonment (usually followed by deportation to a concentration camp) and even by death.


In South Africa, the  Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949  prohibited marriage between persons of different races, and the  Immorality Act  of 1950 made  sexual relations with a person of a different race  a  crime .


Same-sex marriage is legally performed and recognized in countries such as  Andorra ,  Argentina ,  Australia ,  Austria ,  Belgium ,  Brazil ,  Canada ,  Chile ,  Colombia ,  Costa Rica ,  Cuba ,  Denmark ,  Ecuador ,  Estonia ,  Finland ,  France ,  Germany ,  Greece ,  Iceland ,  Ireland ,  Luxembourg ,  Malta ,  Mexico , the  Netherlands , [ a ]   New Zealand , [ b ]   Norway ,  Portugal ,  Slovenia ,  South Africa ,  Spain ,  Sweden ,  Switzerland ,  Taiwan , the  United Kingdom , [ c ]  the  United States , [ d ]  and  Uruguay .  Israel  recognizes same-sex marriages entered into abroad as full marriages.


The introduction of same-sex marriage has varied by jurisdiction, being variously accomplished through legislative change to  marriage law , a court ruling based on constitutional guarantees of equality, or by direct popular vote (via  ballot initiative  or  referendum ). The recognition of same-sex marriage is considered to be a  human right  and a  civil right  as well as a political, social, and religious issue. [ 120 ]  The most prominent supporters of same-sex marriage are human rights and civil rights organizations as well as the medical and scientific communities, while the most prominent opponents are religious groups. Various faith communities around the world support same-sex marriage, while many religious groups oppose it.  Polls consistently show  continually rising support for the recognition of same-sex marriage in all developed democracies and in some developing democracies. [ 121 ]


The establishment of recognition in law for the marriages of same-sex couples is one of the most prominent objectives of the  LGBT rights  movement.


Polygyny is widely practiced in mostly  Muslim  and African countries. [ 122 ] [ 123 ]  In the Middle Eastern region, Israel, Turkey and  Tunisia  are notable exceptions. [ 124 ]


In most other jurisdictions, polygamy is illegal. For example, In the United States, polygamy is illegal in all  50 states . [ 125 ]