The institution of marriage in

feudal private law

Szőcs Brigitta
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transilvania
Kolozsvár
 The marriage:
 One of the most complex social phenomena
 It is an essential medium for the birth of the individual, the family and
society
 From a legal point of view: an institution serving the public, private,
family, social and constitutional public good at the same time
 It has undergone great change over time
Family law
 The family:
 A community of parents, their children, and their closest relatives
 It is the basic cell of the state, society and the church
 Genus (broader family)
 A family (in the narrower sense)
 The first community of the family an inseparable marital relationship
between a man and a woman is a defining element of the institution of
family law in matrimonial law
Formation and development of matrimonial law

 In early Hungarian law, the rules of marriage were maintained by

the church
 Kidnapping and fostering were still common in the age of state
formation
 With the advent of Christianity, it is being pushed into the
background
 11-12. century - marriage is the result of an agreement between a
man and a woman
 16th century Council of Trent
Obstacles to marriage

 Undeveloped age - girl under 12 and boy under 14

 Blood relatedness - up to a quarter
 Legal (adoption) and spiritual kinship (brotherhood,
coma)
 Infertility
 An existing marriage is already valid
 Marriage of persons in the slave
 Crime - homicide and adultery
 Priestly order, solemnly made priestly vow
 Religious difference
 Lack of will - coercion, threat, mistake
The emergence of civil marriage

 First, Protestant countries began to introduce it

 In Hungary II. Joseph raised it first, but his death was
revoked after his death
 The issue of civil marriage was put back on the agenda
after the compromise
 No. 31 of 1984 sanctified
 Remained until 31 December 1952 (with substantive
changes)
Summary

 Marriage goes back to the founding of the state

 For more than 800 years, it was governed by canon
law with strict rules
 The Act of 1894 made significant amendments