Customary Gidar Marriage and Christian Tradition

In Cameroon we are dealing with three types of marriage: traditional, universally practiced marriage; civil marriage, required by state law before entering into a religious marriage; and, finally, sacramental marriage. Most widespread is the traditional form of contracting marriage. This article will present this particular form, referring to Gidar traditions and also showing its similarities to, and differences from, the Christian tradition brought by the missionaries. It will also propose solutions which combine the two traditions. A characteristic feature of marriage rites was their multi-stage nature. They were not single acts but events long prepared and celebrated with suitable gestures, symbols, words, and events. The individual, successive stages of “taking a wife” consisted of the choice of a spouse, accepted by both families; an engagement period; an act by both families of acknowledgement of the joining of the young persons as one in marriage; the conveying of the bride to her husband’s home; celebrating; and paying the matrimonial fee. The Church in northern Cameroon recognized traditional marriages contracted outside of baptism as valid and licit, provided that local principles, e.g., payment of a marriage fee, were taken into account. If either of the parties accepted baptism, the marriage became for him or her sacramental. If the other party also made the same decision later on, their union took on a sacramental character, without a need to renew the marriage vows. Controversy would however arise if attempts were made to contract a traditional marriage if one party was [already] baptized, or if both parties were baptized. These controversies mainly concerned the unity, indissolubility, and sacramentality of marriage.

Centrality of Religiosity and Dyadic Coping in Close Romantic Relationships: Actor Partner Interdependence Model

Some studies suggest that religious people cope better with stress. For married couples, if partners perceive their relationship as sacred, supportive dyadic coping mediates the association of sanctification with marital satisfaction and well-being. In the current study, applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 116 Polish couples (n = 232), aged between 21 and 64 (males: M = 37.8, SD = 11.8; females M = 37.1, SD = 12.0), we examined the link between centrality of religiosity and dyadic coping. Although general dyadic analyses indicate that centrality of religiosity and dyadic coping are unrelated concepts, at the subscales level, we could observe few significant relationships. The results show that Polish religious men rate their common dyadic coping low. Actor effects in women are moderated by the type of relationship (cohabitation and civil marriage vs. catholic marriage).

Legal Literacy for Muslim Converts in Malaysia

Many Muslim converts in Malaysia are not well-informed of their rights and the legal implications of conversion to Islam. Implementing legal pluralism, particularly the different sets of personal laws that apply to Muslims and non-Muslims, sends the converts, their non-Muslim families, and the religious authorities into bitter legal battles whenever an individual converts to Islam. Furthermore, as religious institutions currently offer no legal literacy program, some Muslim converts are unclear regarding the course of action they should take whenever legal issues are involved, especially from the aspects of identity change; civil marriage dissolution; matrimonial properties distribution; child custody and guardianship; determination of child’s and the deceased’s religion; and inheritance and derivative pension distribution. Therefore, this research explores Muslim converts’ perspectives on the need for and development of legal literacy regarding rights and legal implications of conversion to Islam. This study employed in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 participants who were all Muslim converts. Each interview was transcribed verbatim, and the data were analysed with NVIVO software based on a thematic approach. The research found that all participants unanimously agreed to empower Muslim converts with legal literacy, considering many are not well-informed of the legal implications of conversion to Islam, despite it directly affecting their personal lives, family dynamic, and the multicultural society in Malaysia.

HINDOE-EGGENOTE, WEET JY WAT JOU REGSPOSISIE IN DIE SUID-AFRIKAANSE REG IS?

This article investigates the legal position of a Hindu wife married in terms of Hindu rites. In general, her marriage is not recognised as a valid marriage because it does not comply with the requirements set out in the Marriage Act 25 of 1961. Although the Durban and Coast Local Division of the High Court recently held that she is a "spouse" in terms of the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987, her legal position is far from certain. In Singh v Rampersad 2007 3 SA 445 (D) the court held that a monogamous marriage in terms of Hindu rites is not a valid marriage in terms of South African law. The non-recognition of her marriage has certain consequences, especially when a Hindu wife wants to dissolve her "marriage" or one of the "spouses" dies. In this contribution the differences between a Hindu marriage and a civil marriage are pointed out, including the possible consequences if parties want to conclude a marriage in terms of Hindu rites only.

POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF DECLARING CIVIL AND CUSTOMARY MARRIAGES VOID

The consequences of declaring a civil marriage entered into during the existence of a customary marriage or vice versa void could have nowhere been fully canvassed. On the face of it, it merely calls for a declaration of invalidity of the existing marriage, but it raises various ancillary issues which have not been addressed. We do not discuss the judgments declaring marriages void, but focus on the consequences of such judgments. For a variety of reasons it is important to determine whether a civil marriage, concluded subsequent to a customary marriage, is valid or ab initio void, or vice versa. To mention but one reason: “Where immovable property, a real right in immovable property, a bond or a notarial bond – (d) is registered in the name of a person who on the date of the registrationwas a party to a marriage governed by the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998 (Act 120 of 1998) the registrar shall on the written application by the person concerned and on the submission of the deed in question and of proof of the relevant facts,endorse the change in status or make a note of the effect that the said person is a party to a marriage in community of property, as the case may be” (S 17(4) of the Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937). When a marriage is void, no consequences flow from it, except in so far as it may be deemed to be a putative marriage. Lawyers, officials and the public at large still do not seem to realize that interms of sections 2(1) and (2) of the Recognition of Customary Marriage Act (120 of 1998) customary marriages entered into before and after commencement of the Act are for all purposes recognized as marriages. The case of Netshituka v Netshituka (426/10 [2011] ZACSA 120 dated 2011-07-20) has now given clear direction as to the validity or non-validity of civil marriages concluded after the Marriage and Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act 3 of 1988. Also in Thembisile v Thembisile (2002 (2) SA 209 (T) par 32) Bertelsmann J held that a civil marriage contracted while the man was a partner in an existing customary marriage with another woman was void. The position of the validity of civil marriages, entered into prior to and after the said Amendment Act, will now be discussed.

Changes in the concept designated by the term mariage civil throughout the history of French law 1791–2013

In 1791, the term mariage civil first appeared in French law in order to designate a civil and secular union recognised only by the State. After the introduction of this term into the French legal domain, there were legislative changes regarding the rules of civil marriages over the following years. The present paper examines the semantic evolution of the term mariage civil in French law, relating this evolution to socio-cultural and historical aspects of France between 1791 (when civil marriage was instituted in this country) and 2013 (when the most recent legislative change in the area occurred). Based on this investigation, it is possible to affirm the transformations in the French society and legislative changes have modified the concept designated by the term mariage civil, especially concerning the notion of family and the achievement of rights by women and homosexuals.

Marriage and Population Growth Anthropological Comparative Study in Kirkuk City

The city of Kirkuk is one of the disputed cities between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Baghdad. In the Iraqi Constitution 2005, through Article 140, the constitutional solution to this problem was decided, through (normalization, the census of the city’s population, the referendum). This process is depending on the number of population . The simple marriage habits of Arabs and the difficulty of Kurdish marriage led to rapid population growth among Arabs.. Population growth is influenced by a wide array of social and cultural variables including social customs, marriage levels, birth rate, and family size and so on. The Kurdish rural community has been dismantled since the 1980s, while the Arab rural society is in a state of continuous growth. Moreover, the Kurdish population is concentrated inside the city and practices urban or marginal occupations, while the Arab population has become widely distributed in villages, districts and within the city, practicing pastoral, agricultural, governmental, security and military occupations. The Arab rural community is also characterized by high demographic growth due to early marriage, lack of family planning and polygamy, while the Kurdish urban population is characterized by a low population due to delayed marriages, birth control and civil marriage. Furthermore, the average size of Kurdish family is between (3 to 5 persons), while the average size of Arab family, especially in rural areas, ranges between 8 and 10. The process of marriage in Arab society is easy and does not cost much while this process tends to be more costly in Kurdish community. It is worth mentioning that the migration of Kurdish youth outwards or the migration of Kurdish families to Kurdistan Region is high, while migration for many Arab families and their young members tend to be towards Kirkuk city. The percentage of spinsterhood in Kurdish society is higher compare to Arab community. Therefore, we expect that the percentage of Kurds in Kirkuk will fall to (38%) in 2030, after it was 48% in the 1957. And the percentage of Arabs in Kirkuk will arise to (35%) in 2030, after it was 21% in the 1957.

1580 Political Ordinance of the States of Holland and West Friesland

The present study deals with certain influences the 1580 Political Ordinance of the States of Holland and West Friesland had in the English-speaking world, specifically in relation to the Plymouth Colony in the present-day Commonwealth of Massachusetts and South Africa. Regarding the former, there is a survey of the introduction of the institution of civil marriage by the Pilgrims at the Plymouth Colony and the Dutch background to this particular development. In relation to South Africa, there is an analysis of the lack of intestacy inheritance between spouses in that country in the past due to the system of inheritance rooted in the 1580 Political Ordinance, and the changes that took place in connection to this with the passing of time.

Her Majesty's Attorney General - v - Akhter & Ors.

This brief considers the February 2020 judgment of the Court of Appeal of England & Wales in Akhter - v - Khan, an appeal brought by the Attorney General against the decision at first-instance to grant the petitioner wife, Akhter, a decree nisi, or provisional decree of divorce. The decision of the Court of Appeal was against the backdrop of the Law Commission holding a public consultation into the status at law of certain 'religious-only' marriages (including Islamic weddings) and whether, absent a contemporaneous or succeeding civil marriage, they are to be regarded as void (entitling petitioners to ancillary relief, such as spousal support) or 'non-marriages'.

Normative models and trends in the development of intra-family relations in modern conditions

The article notes that each culture has its own «normative» model of the family, characterized by its defining parameters. These parameters reflect different indicators – descriptors – as attributes that determine the corresponding value and behavior in society. The types of family relationships identified by humanitarian science are revealed. It is proved that in a retrospective of the historical development of mankind, the relationships not only of the family and society, but also of the family and the individual changed, which depended on many factors. The article analyzes the negative trends of marriage and family relations, it is noted that along with the form of actual (civil) marriage, there is a tendency to the appearance of a large number of other forms of marriage unions: guest, concubinate, open marriage, business marriage, fictitious, creative union, polygyny, group marriage, same-sex cohabitation, virtual marriage (web-marriage), etc. This trend leads to a change in the content of the phenomenon of marriage, the adoption of actual marriage as a social norm. It is noted that today the semantic attitudes of a person are deformed and the concepts of the purpose and values of life are distorted, there is a noticeable turn of mass consciousness from the collectivist values of the family to the individual values of the person, which to a certain extent disorganizes both family life and social relations. It is noted that according to the results of the study, the authors of this article developed an educational module "Modern Family" for students of a different professional fields.