• Marriage is a universal social institution established to control and regulate the sex life of individuals.
• It is closely connected with the institution of family, and both are complementary to each other.
• According to Gillin and Gillin, marriage is a socially approved way of establishing a family of procreation.
• Westermarck suggests that marriage is rooted in the family, rather than the family being rooted in marriage.
• Marriage has different implications, purposes, functions, and forms in various cultures.
• Despite differences, marriage is present as an institution in every society.

DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF MARRIAGE

• There is no single definition that covers all types of human marriage.

Definitions of marriage

• Edward Westermarck defines marriage as a durable connection between male and female lasting beyond propagation and continuing until after the birth of offspring.
• Malinowski describes marriage as a contract for the production and maintenance of children.
• Robert H. Lowie defines marriage as a relatively permanent bond between permissible mates.
• Duncan Mitchell broadly defines marriage as a socially sanctioned sex relationship between two or more people of the opposite sex, expected to endure beyond gestation and the birth of children.
• Alfred McClung Lee states that marriage is the public joining of a man and woman as husband and wife under socially specified regulations.