Rational thought at the UChicago Law School

[dsrtao]

http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2008/10/why-did-marriag.html

Basic argument: the state stays out of baptism, naming, confession, communion, confirmation, and so forth -- it shouldn't be in the marriage business, either.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

AIUI the reason the state got into the marriage business in the first place -- a very long time ago indeed -- was because of the vicious intersection of inheritance, dowries, and wealth consolidation among the nobility. In a feudal society that can have explosive political implications.

[dsrtao]

Not that you have a series of novels with such implications as a major plot component or anything.

I think that most of those issues are now handled in contract law, via prenuptial agreements, plus estate/trust law for the other end of it. As always, the very rich manage their own set of laws.