The age of marriage as a right is generally the same as the age of majority, which is 18 in most countries. However, in some countries the age of majority is less than 18, while in others it is 19, 20 or 21. In Canada, for example, the age of majority in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut is 19, and marriage before age 19 in these provinces requires parental or court consent (see Marriage in Canada). In the United States, for example, the age of majority is 21 in Mississippi and 19 in Nebraska and requires parental consent. In many jurisdictions in North America, minors are legally emancipated through marriage. [42] The 55 Parties to the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages have agreed to legislate on a minimum age for marriage to override customary, religious, and tribal laws and traditions. If the age of marriage according to the law of a religious community is lower than that provided for by the law of the country, the law of the State prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the primacy of state law in this regard, which can lead to child or forced marriage. The 123 parties to the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery agreed to introduce a mandatory minimum “reasonable” age for marriage.
In many developing countries, official age requirements are only guidelines. UNICEF, the United Nations Children`s Organization, considers the marriage of a minor (legal child), a person under adulthood, as a child marriage and as a violation of rights. [1] I just researched what the legal age of marriage was in the 1800s. There were 14 for boys and 12 for girls. I know this has been discussed in threads in the past, but how common were these marriages? Today, however, where women have far more opportunities for meaningful autonomy, early marriage shortens almost all of these options. But above all, this is especially true for women who are able to take advantage of these opportunities. Where underage marriage is most common today — among poor and rural Americans — many girls believe that marriage at a certain age is their lot in life, regardless of that. Overall, a postponement may have little consequence. Marriage itself has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past two hundred years and has become much more egalitarian for many spouses. Because of who marries today as a minor and why they do so, most young women cannot take advantage of this new marital equality or the option of not letting life chances be defined by marriage. Studies show that those who marry as minors today are much more likely to suffer from health problems, including depression, than those who marry as adults (effects that could have been found in child brides in the past if someone had asked for it). What the studies do not show is whether these health risks are related to the early marriage itself or the circumstances that led to it.
Regardless, it should be noted that poverty (and its consequences: substandard education, including sex education, and lack of access to contraception) and inequality of opportunity make early marriage a symptom of much larger problems, not the main problem. In England and Wales, the Marriage Act 1753 required that a marriage be covered by a licence (which required parental consent for persons under 21) or the publication of banns (which parents of persons under 21 could prohibit). In addition, the Church of England stipulated that the bride and groom had to be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their family; In certificates, the most common age for brides is 22. For the bride and groom, 24 was the most common age, with an average age of 24 for the bride and groom and 27 for the bride and groom. [27] While European nobles often married early, they constituted a small minority of the population,[28] and Canterbury marriage certificates show that even among nobles it was very rare to marry women very early. [27] This is consistent with data from England, France and Germany, which place the average age of first marriage for women at 25.1 years from 1750 to 1799 and 25.7 years from 1800 to 1849. Minors under the age of 18 may not marry in the states of New York, Pennslyviana, New Jersey, Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island. This also applies to the Territories of the Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
The researchers note that the average age in 2010 was 3.4 years higher than in 1900, and find that this “likely reflects the changing status of women in society – as women pursue their education and careers before marriage. They are increasingly delaying the age at which they marry. The term “child bride” also perversely expresses the legal power of the institution of marriage, which can truly transform a child into something adult, a wife. This was because early Americans had a functional rather than chronological understanding of childhood. Before the mid-nineteenth century, many Americans believed that marriage could turn a child into a legally and socially adult wife because of marriage. Their marital status exceeded their chronological age. Marrying a first cousin was perfectly acceptable in the early 1800s, and the practice certainly offered some advantages: wealth and property were more likely to remain in the same hands, and it was easier for young women to meet and be courted by single people within the family circle. Later in the 19th century, however, marriage between cousins became rarer.
Increased mobility due to the growth of the railroad and other widespread economic improvements greatly expanded the circle of a young woman`s future husbands. In Victorian times, awareness of reproductive birth defects among parents increased. However, cousin marriages remained popular among the upper class. Charles Darwin, for example, married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood, and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were first cousins themselves. In 2010, the average age of first marriage for women was 26.1 years (28.2 years for men), although research shows that “marriage is usually delayed and not abandoned,” and although they may wait a while, “more than 90% of women will eventually marry.” In the Roman Empire, Emperor Augustus introduced legislation on marriage, which rewarded the Lex Papia Poppaea, marriage and having children.